Fannie Mae’s announcement of an update to its HomeReady program drew applause from the crowd at the MBA’s independent mortgage bankers conference this week.

Fed researchers model an economy in which safe, stable agency MBS are the instigators of market turmoil and financial crisis.

The new data points should speed up delivery for lenders. Starting June 3, lenders will be able to enter the new ULDD collateral data points.

All lender types, except HFAs and credit unions, saw GSE deliveries decline in the fourth quarter. For HFAs, that meant a spike in market share, albeit from a low starting point. (Includes two data tables.)

Measured by profits per employee, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are among the most successful companies on the planet.

A new option in Desktop Underwriter allows lenders to pre-qualify borrowers with a single soft pull credit file. However, a hard pull tri-merge credit report will still be required with the actual loan application.

Freddie clarifies how servicers should handle COVID-19 flex modifications for borrowers who recently became delinquent. Fannie announces a tool to compute the monthly income of self-employed borrowers.

At FHFA’s direction, the GSEs have been working to ensure lenders can identify condo projects that are ineligible due to deferred maintenance or characteristics like excess commercial space or investor concentration.

Overall deliveries to the GSEs fell 11.0% in October and were down 51.2% year-to-date compared to 2022. That’s largely due to the decline in refis, which are off 85% compared to the first 10 months of last year. (Includes two data tables.)

Fannie and Freddie have updated rules around employment contracts, shared appreciation and fluctuating income.