First-time buyers continue to fight the challenges of rising house prices, higher interest rates and depleted inventory…

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued guidance to VA program participants to ensure that all mortgage loans meet the requirements of the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Act reform law prior to endorsement.

During the first quarter, the average credit score at Fannie Mae was 741.15, slightly below the average 744.73 at Freddie Mac.

According to the offering circular, the average loan balance is $230,368 with delinquencies totaling 5.80 percent...

Treasury Official Sees Major Impact from Single Security. A key Treasury Department official suggested that issuers of non-agency MBS may someday participate in the common securitization platform being developed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Craig Phillips, counselor to the Treasury, said the industry has made a lot of progress toward the launch of the single security that is scheduled for June 2019. “Industry preparedness is about an eight or nine on a scale of 10,” he said during remarks at this week's secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association in New York. Phillips characterized the...

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Montgomery should “right size” the FHA.

The Senate this week confirmed Brian Montgomery as the next FHA commissioner and assistant secretary of housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Most of the decline in FHA business was in purchase-mortgage lending while VA business took a hit due to reductions in the Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan program.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, announced to take a vote on the nominee for FHA commissioner, Brian Montgomery. Given the other nominations already in the Senate floor queue, the vote is expected to occur sometime in June…

New FHA endorsements and VA home loan guaranty volume were both down significantly in the first quarter, but the two programs followed different paths to mostly similar results. A new Inside FHA/VA Lending ranking and analysis shows that endorsements of FHA forward mortgages slipped 10.5 percent from the fourth quarter to $48.96 billion. That was the lowest quarterly output for the program since early 2015, when just $39.48 billion of FHA forward loans were originated. In the VA program, new loan guarantees fell 11.1 percent from the fourth quarter to $39.06 billion. That was the lowest three-month total since the first lap in 2016, with $37.09 billion produced. Most of the decline in FHA business was in purchase-mortgage lending, which fell 13.5 percent from the fourth quarter. While purchase loans still accounted for a hefty 71.1 percent of FHA forward endorsements during the ... [Charts]