Much of the increase in impairments in August was tied to new 30+ day impairments, which increased by 59 basis points.

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased by four basis points from last week to 6.30%.

Hugh Frater, a former CEO of Fannie Mae, warned that merging the GSEs could reduce incentives for innovation and competition on pricing, among other issues.

“You’ve got an ever-increasing number of investors and insurance companies, securitizers and aggregators, all competing for what feels like a smaller set of loans,” said Clint Thomas, vice president of correspondent lending at Silver Hill Capital.

While interest rates declined again last week, mortgage applications didn't move much.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency is facing increased competition in assessing non-agency mortgage-backed securities.

Jim Rosen, head of product management and services at Mortgage Cadence, said lenders need additional guidance from FHFA and the GSEs.

Sales of existing single-family homes in California increased by 0.9% on a monthly basis in August.

It takes time to build volume for an HEI securitization because of the relatively small size of each HEI contract.

FHFA’s spring regulatory agenda includes plans to reverse four proposed new rules from the prior administration and five rules that have already been finalized.