House Financial Services Committee Passes Flood Insurance Bill. The House Financial Services Committee recently voted to advance legislation that would provide a private flood insurance alternative to the federal National Flood Insurance Program for homeowners required to purchase flood insurance. H.R. 2901, the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act, passed by a unanimous vote of 53-0 and was sent to the House floor for consideration. A Senate counterpart bill, S. 1679, which was reintroduced by Sen. Dean Heller, R-NV, last year, is awaiting action in the Committee of Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Both bills were introduced jointly in both the House and the Senate in 2015. Currently, due to uncertainty as to whether the coverage satisfies federal requirements, many lenders are reluctant to issue mortgages for homes with ...

An estimated $1.21 trillion of newly-originated home loans were pooled in mortgage securities last year.

If stocks tank, look for yet another bond market rally.

The GSEs’ retained portfolios are shrinking, but whole-loan investments held by banks and credit unions are not.

Prestwick is out with a flow package that could yield $360 million to $480 million annually in Fannie Mae product.

There are two sides to the story. A year from now, the agency MBS market could reach the $6.0 trillion mark...

A Realtor based in California noted that selling prices are generally increasing, but at widely disparate rates based on location...

Increases in demand on the FHA single-family program are having collateral implications for the integrity of Ginnie Mae’s MBS programs, including the potential for more fraud, warned the Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general. Testifying during a recent Senate budget hearing, HUD Inspector General David Montoya said Ginnie issuer defaults historically have been infrequent, involving small to moderate-size issuers. “However, major unanticipated issuer defaults beginning in 2009 have led...

DeMarco, by the way, called on Congress to take a “thoughtful” review of the FHA program and Ginnie Mae’s role in housing finance.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development this week unveiled final loan-level and lender-level certifications aimed at easing lender anxiety over potential enforcement actions due to minor errors, but a statement from the Justice Department could put a damper on the new FHA policy. The updated version of FHA’s loan-level certification clarifies that lenders will be held accountable for mistakes that would have prompted a lender to change its decision to approve a loan, not for minor errors. In addition, HUD opened a 30-day comment period for lender-level certification to address stakeholders’ concerns that proposed changes to loan-level certification could weaken the department’s enforcement authority. Lender liability under the federal False Claims Act has been...