Wall Street is concerned that the further away a loan is from getting safe harbor protection as a qualified mortgage, the more legal uncertainty and higher costs there will be associated with it.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated that the central bank is leaning toward scaling down its MBS purchases later this year, and that rapidly rising mortgage interest rates don’t pose a major threat to the fledgling housing recovery.

Investors accounted for 20 percent of home purchases in May, based on the three-month moving average, the third consecutive decline in investor share.

The Corker-Warner GSE bill could see the light of day next Tuesday. Meanwhile, HLSS is selling more shares to the public.

With rates rising and liquidity increasing, more mortgage servicing portfolios are hitting the auction market.

When rates rise, loan officers begin to bite their nails, unless they are heavily reliant on purchase-money loans.

Residential debt outstanding fell slightly in the first quarter, but the GSE/FHA share of the market continued to grow.

The pool of mortgages in Shellpoint's first deal has a combined loan-to-value ratio of 65 percent, slightly lower than other recent non-agency MBS.

There is still no official word on when the Senate Banking Committee will take up the nomination of Rep. Mel Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

MBA pushes for GSE AU engines to be synchronized. Meanwhile, a factoid of mortgage history: Treasury chief Paulson wanted Fannie and Freddie put in receivership.