Fleig said Fannie’s new policy has prompted some questions as industry participants haven’t seen a draft of the subordination agreement seller/servicers will have to sign.

The refinance market was soft as well. The agencies securitized $37.48 billion of refinance loans during November, down 12.3 percent from the previous month.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae produced just $86.69 billion of single-family MBS during November, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. Last month’s production was down 19.1 percent from October’s volume and represented the weakest issuance since the agency MBS market started to take off in February of this year. All three agencies saw...[Includes two data tables]

Are some mortgage underwriters using Facebook information to underwrite their credits? We heard one interesting story this past week...

The Urban Institute has suggested separating FHA’s reverse mortgage business from future actuarial audits of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund because it is producing a skewed picture of MMIF finances. In a recent blog, Laurie Goodman, director of the institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center, said including the highly volatile and unpredictable Home Equity Conversion Mortgage portfolio in FHA’s solvency calculation severely distorts the fund’s true financial condition ...

As the Federal Housing Finance Agency continues to ramp up efforts to get the word out about the Home Affordable Refinance Program, which is officially down to its last 12 months, the agency reported a sharp 18 percent quarterly decline in the number of takers in the third quarter of 2015. There were 25,824 HARP refinances in the third quarter, down from the 31,561 HARP refinances completed in the second quarter, according to new loan-count figures released by the FHFA. HARP activity accounted for about 5 percent of all refinances in the third quarter, mirroring that of the previous quarter. While both GSEs were down in HARP refi volume, Fannie Mae had more activity than Freddie...

At the same time, credit standards – at least in the agency market – have eased only slightly over the past two years...

“Some of you work the regular hours with minimal extra ... and this will not work,” an assistant vice president and underwriting manager at Franklin American said in an email to underwriters...

Now that President Obama has signed legislation to cap Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac CEO pay, which GSE chief will leave first?

In comments to IMFnews, Emerson accused the HUD Inspector General and DOJ of “hijacking” the FHA program.