George Mason University real estate professor Anthony Sanders, a former head of asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities research at Deutsche Bank, took issue this week with a recent report from the Urban Institute which suggested that residential mortgage credit is still too tight because there are 4 million fewer mortgages originated this year than in 2001, before the housing bubble.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued a robust $189.92 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the first three months of 2015, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.

A focus on special servicing has helped Rushmore Loan Management Services increase its portfolio in recent years. Standard & Poor’s also recently upgraded the firm’s special servicing rating to “above average.”

Strong purchase lending to military personnel and first-time homebuyers allowed Navy Federal Credit Union to exceed the $1 billion mark in March, the best month in the credit union’s history.

The Mortgage Bankers Association sent a letter to House Republican leadership on Tuesday in support of three bills that would restructure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

FED WATCH: Voting members of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee, not surprisingly, were at odds over a possible June rise in interest rates, according to the minutes of the FOMC’s March 17-18 meeting. RATE UPDATE: Mortgage rates didn’t change much this week, as the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate was constant at 3.82 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey.

After much speculation, Fannie Mae announced on Wednesday its first ever auction of nonperforming loans to qualified bidders. It includes a pool of approximately 3,200 loans totaling $786 million in unpaid principal balance.

CAPITAL HILL REPORT: Shortly before the U.S. Congress vacated the nation’s capital for its spring recess, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-ID, introduced legislation that would require all rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau be evaluated in the 10-year regulatory review process under the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act, which seeks to identify rules that are unnecessary, outdated and overly burdensome. The Dodd-Frank Act already requires the CFPB to similarly review every major rulemaking…

Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities issuance fell in the first quarter of 2015 with FHA volume slipping during the period, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending’s analysis of agency data.

Carrington Mortgage Services announced on Tuesday that it will offer the FHA 203k Full loan program through its national wholesale lending division, which should be especially attractive for first-time homebuyers purchasing a “fixer-upper.”