The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week temporarily allowed Fannie and Freddie to finance mortgage-backed securities.

One of the early casualties of the coronavirus outbreak is the much-anticipated, re-proposed capital rule for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Federal Reserve operations this week swallowed up more than $39.8 billion in agency MBS, including about $31.7 billion in uniform MBS.

Borrowers are entitled to forbearance if unable to make their monthly mortgage payment due to the virus, the FHFA has reminded servicers.

Even as the percentage of GSE high-DTI loans fell, an odd thing happened: The actual dollar volume of these assets surged.

GSE single-family MBS issuance fell 1.6% from December 2019 to January 2020, but production was double its volume of a year ago. (Includes two data charts.)

Democratic senators ask Fannie and Freddie if they have attempted to model the risks associated with climate-related disasters, including floods, wildfires and extreme weather events.

Industry advocates point out that, unlike other forms of credit-risk transfer, private mortgage insurance stands in front of all other losses.

Independent mortgage bankers became the largest source of new single-family loans for Fannie and Freddie MBS in 2019, while significantly expanding their share of the GSE servicing market. (Includes data chart.)

SIFMA said the Ginnie-like market structure proposed by FHFA isn’t appropriate for conventional MBS. Moreover, the plan doesn’t address the continued misalignment of MBS issued by Fannie and Freddie.