If all goes to plan, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will retain most of their earnings beginning with the third quarter.

A $1 billion line of credit might be small potatoes by GSE standards, but it’s likely to elicit whistles among private lenders.

Although the non-QM portion of the non-agency market accounted for less than $10 billion in 2018, it could absorb more than $50 billion in former patch loans if it continues its current annual growth rate.

On the issue of FHFA’s constitutionality, the court ruled for the plaintiffs. But rather than invalidate the net worth sweep, the court struck the “for-cause” provision from HERA.

The issues have been argued over so long, and the views of key players are so well known, that the plan itself couldn’t help but disappoint.

Although the report notes that the administration’s preference is for legislative reform, the plan emphasizes that reform “should not and need not wait on Congress.”

A decade of incremental reform has set the stage for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to exit conservatorship, according to Don Layton.

The trade group last week said it would not support releasing Fannie and Freddie from conservatorship unless Congress first creates an explicit gov-ernment guarantee for their mortgage-backed securities.

Despite heavy lobbying by large banks for the multi-guarantor model of GSE reform, Don Layton joins the growing crowd of pundits who advocate for managing Fannie and Freddie as public utilities.

As a key Obama-era policy maker at FHFA departs, some industry insiders worry the new administration will upset years of reform.