Fannie Mae estimated that it incurred losses from short sales of the 10,310 non-owner occupied properties for 2012 totaling some $953.5 million.

The purchase mortgage share of originations is expected to increase significantly, from 30 percent in 2012 to 79 percent in 2015, according to Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac projects that interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages will hit 5.00 percent by the end of 2014, with little impact on affordability.

Speaking at a housing finance forum sponsored by the Urban Institute and CoreLogic, Gene Sperling, a White House economic advisor, said the Obama Administration believes the “risks are simply too great and that this would recreate the problems of the past.”

The decline in the use of proprietary loan mods also has outpaced a decline in foreclosure sales. Some 166,809 foreclosures were completed in the third quarter of 2013, down 2 percent from the first quarter of 2013.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had previously indicated that the industry could expect the rule sometime in September, then October, and now, sometime before year’s end.

Due-diligence firms, which had hoped to prosper with the return of non-agency jumbo lending, have shown little growth in the non-agency space during the second half of the year.

The exact g-fees charged to primary originators by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are one of the best kept secrets in the industry.

RFC is privately held. One of its top executives is Barry Habib, a well-known mortgage trainer who has worked at GMAC Mortgage and other shops during his career.

The man heading the MSR sales effort for Wells Fargo is Brian Kunar, who carries the title of senior vice president of servicing sales.