“The president believes that Rep. Watt is the very best person to lead the agency at this important time for the housing market and our economy, and that having a confirmed FHFA director in place will help promote certainty for the housing industry,” said a White House spokesman.

CFPB chief Richard Cordray believes "the QM space has been drawn quite broadly" and estimates that more than 95 percent of the loans made in the current market will be deemed qualified mortgages.

According to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, the GSEs took in $16 billion from buybacks during the first six months of 2013. At the same time, lenders succeeded in getting $7 billion in repurchase requests withdrawn.

The nomination of Rep. Mel Watt, D-NC, to replace current Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco may not dead after all.

The incredibly shrinking refinance market helped continue the shift in the mix of single-family mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the month of September, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, announced an agreement to fix unintended consequences (significantly higher premiums) from the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act.

Legislative reform of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA will take years, according to panelists at the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention.

A year ago, mortgage servicing brokers were seeing five or fewer bidders on bulk offerings. Today, 10 or more bidders show up, many of which are nonbanks or have owners that are hedge funds or private-equity firms.

In the wake of the JPM settlement, more megabanks may seek out of court settlements with the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency should think twice, then disregard any plans to further cut the multifamily business of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the ranking member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and GSEs. In a letter to the FHFA earlier this month, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, noted that since the Finance Agency implemented “an arbitrary” 10 percent cut in GSE multifamily business for 2013, “an additional reduction further depresses the housing market nationwide, reduces the availability of rental housing, and actually harms the financial stability” of Fannie and Freddie by limiting proven revenue-generating opportunities.