The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee brought the latest installment in its quantitative easing programs to a conclusion this week, but the central bank will continue to reinvest principal payments back into agency MBS. The FOMC also reaffirmed the current 0 to 0.25 percent target range for the federal funds rate. “The committee anticipates … that it likely will be appropriate to maintain the 0 to 0.25 percent target range for the federal funds rate for a considerable time following the end of its asset purchase program this month, especially if projected inflation continues to run below the committee’s 2 percent longer-run goal, and provided that longer-term inflation expectations remain well anchored.” And as usual, the Fed left...

A total of $51.18 billion of commercial mortgages were securitized during the third quarter of 2014 as the sector reached a new post-crisis high in new issuance, according to a new market analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. Commercial mortgage securitization rose 38.4 percent from the second quarter and represented the biggest three-month period in new issuance since the third quarter of 2007. For the first nine months of 2014, commercial mortgage securitization totaled $119.76 billion, down 24.4 percent from the same period last year. New issuance was off on a year-to-date basis because of the slump in production during the first half of 2014. Both sides of the market posted...[Includes one data chart]

Issuers of non-agency MBS should be able to price loans that don’t meet the standards for qualified mortgages at nearly the same levels as QMs, according to Andrew Davidson & Co., a firm that provides risk analytics on non-agency MBS. Non-QMs actually perform better than similar QMs in certain scenarios, as long as underwriting on the products is strong. Beginning in late 2015, non-QMs included in new non-agency MBS will trigger risk-retention requirements. Only mortgages that meet QM standards will be deemed to be qualified residential mortgages and exempt from risk retention. Interest-only mortgages appear...

Participants in the residential mortgage market were largely pleased with the risk-retention requirements finalized last week for certain non-agency MBS. However, the requirements, which also cover commercial MBS and other ABS, drew a wide range of criticism from others. “The short version is that the rule doesn’t require meaningful credit risk retention where it counts, and imposes significant market-shaping safe-harbor requirements where skin in the game isn’t so important,” said Adam Levitin, a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center. He noted...

An internal conflict within the Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly holding up final resolution of Bank of America’s record $16.65 billion settlement with government agencies. The settlement, announced last August, is stalled due to a partisan dispute among the five SEC commissioners over granting a waiver on additional sanctions that would take hold when the settlement is entered into court. The sanctions, if enacted, could adversely affect...

One veteran mortgage trade group official, a staunch Republican no less, told us that Lawsky is an “honest and bright guy,” adding that he understands the issues.

Mortgage professionals seem cautiously optimistic about new policy proposals from the Federal Housing Finance Agency on buyback relief and high loan-to-value lending, but it remains to be seen whether they will have the desired impact. Speaking at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association last week, FHFA Director Mel Watt shared some concrete details about the new “life of loan” representation-and-warranty relief and outlined a number of other changes on tap.

An Iowa-based GSE last week asked a federal court in the state to give “no weight” to a ruling earlier this month by a federal judge who dismissed litigation by other GSE shareholders, including Perry Capital and Fairholme Funds. Continental Western Insurance Co. filed papers in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa Central Division arguing that Judge Royce Lamberth was “simply wrong” in his interpretation of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and his HERA-based rationale to shut down shareholders’ suits in DC.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency may end up having second thoughts about its proposed housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac given the room for improvement industry members cited in comment letters to the agency. Issued by the FHFA in September, the proposal would increase some of the benchmark levels for Fannie’s and Freddie’s affordable housing goals through 2017, while also establishing new housing subgoals for low-income multifamily properties.