Most of the gain was in agency mortgage securities, which rose $82.6 billion to $2.148 trillion...

Higher rates because of the new GSE refi LLPA? That's not how Freddie CEO David Brickman sees it...

The senators said they find it distressing that such a large fee would be introduced “with no consultation with Congress and no notice to external stakeholders.”

A basic question: Will Treasury step in to change the trajectory of the new GSE refi fee? (The mainstream media has finally discovered the story.)

CBO, in a report that received little notice, based its estimates on a variety of assumptions about the companies’ retained earnings, capital requirements and more...

Break out the smelling salts: Freedom Mortgage bought RoundPoint after all...

Retail-originated refi production was particularly strong at the GSEs, climbing 160.5% from the first to the second quarter. By contrast, deliveries of retail refi loans rose 30.5% at Ginnie Mae, where total MBS issuance increased more modestly...

However, there’s a catch to the Ginnie number. Servicers of government product, especially depositories with a balance sheet, increasingly are buying delinquent FHA and VA loans out of MBS pools as a way to save money and possibly rehabilitate them down the road.

Fannie economists say surging refinance volumes remain the driving force in the housing market...