The recent government shutdown had a minimal impact on mortgage lending activity partly due to its timing. The 35-day shutdown, which began on Dec. 22, coincided with the holiday season, which is typically a slow time for the housing market.
Ginnie Mae’s plan to reduce the number of small issuers of mortgage-backed securities could increase the agency’s risk and make it harder for those issuers to remain in the program, warned the Community Home Lenders Association.
Ginnie Mae this week barred loanDepot from securitizing VA loans in Ginnie Mae I and multi-issuer pools as part of its efforts to curb loan churning and rapid prepayments.
An outline for housing finance reform released late this week by Senate Banking Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R-ID, looks a lot like the last gasp reform proposal released in 2018 by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, the now retired chair of the House Financial Services Committee. Among other things, the proposal puts Ginnie Mae firmly in control of the government guarantee business.
The FHA/VA market continued to lean more heavily on third-party loan producers in 2018, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities data. [Includes four data charts.]
Congress reportedly plans to reintroduce legislation that would restore Ginnie Mae eligibility for $100 million dollars’ worth of so-called orphan VA streamline refinance loans.
Ginnie Mae has reached the halfway mark of President Trump’s first term without a permanent leader and appears likely to remain so until after the 2020 presidential election.
FHA and VA are calling on servicers to provide special relief to furloughed federal workers and contractors as the partial government shutdown neared a full month with no end in sight.
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