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Inside Mortgage Finance

July 6, 2017

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Fannie/Freddie Business Volume Down Sharply In 2Q17 as Refinance Market Hit the Skids

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw a 13.1 percent drop in new business in their flagship single-family mortgage-backed securities programs during the second quarter, according to an exclusive analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. The two government-sponsored enterprises issued a combined $189.70 billion of single-family MBS during the April-June cycle. It was their weakest quarter since early last year, although year-to-date volume was still up 4.3 percent from the first half of 2016. As widely predicted, the decline was...[Includes three data tables] Read More

Mortgage M&A Market Heats Up: Freedom And Guild Are Buyers, NYCB Exits Business

Fresh off agreeing to buy $20 billion in mortgage servicing rights and production assets from New York Community Bancorp, Freedom Mortgage is in the hunt for more deals. “We’re looking and we’ve had people approach us with opportunities,” company founder and CEO Stanley Middleman told Inside Mortgage Finance. “We’re working on several MSR acquisitions right now.” Middleman declined... Read More

Will Rep. Hensarling Go Along With Evolving Housing-Finance Reform Effort in the Senate?

Late last month the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee showed a new willingness to tackle housing-finance reform legislation and the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but the wild card remains how its bipartisan solution will go over in the House. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is no friend of the two government-sponsored enterprises and has leaned toward minimizing the government’s role in the market. Based on his past legislative efforts regarding GSE reform, the conservative from Texas would love... Read More

Many Non-QM Borrowers Look Eligible for GSE Mortgages, Save for One Disqualifying Issue

An analysis of non-qualified mortgages suggests that many of these borrowers have credit qualities strong enough to qualify for a mortgage that could be delivered to the government-sponsored enterprises. However, issues involving credit events and income documentation can disqualify such borrowers from conventional mortgages. According to an analysis by Morningstar Credit Ratings, the weighted-average loan-to-value ratio for securitized non-QMs is 75.2 percent and the average debt-to-income ratio on the loans is 36.6 percent. The rating service noted that QMs (including agency and non-agency mortgages) have an average LTV ratio around 69.0 percent and an average DTI ratio around 32.3 percent. In addition to showing that certain characteristics don’t differ much between QM borrowers and non-QM borrowers, the analysis suggests... Read More

Affordability Still a Key Issue in Housing-Finance Reform As Senate Banking Panel Weighs Legislative Options

Progressive Democrats helped derail housing-finance reform legislation in the last Congress because they thought affordable housing provisions weren’t rigorous enough. It’s clear that issue will be key in the renewed reform effort taking shape in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, along with another matter that was mostly overlooked in 2014: mortgage servicing. Late in the panel’s hearing on reform last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, made clear that affordable housing will be an issue. “There’s an affordable housing crisis in this country pushing homeownership below 64 percent,” she said, adding that it’s also put a strain on rental units. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, the ranking minority member of the panel, said... Read More

State Agencies Cite Nonbank Servicers, Raise Compliance Concerns About Market Shift to Purchase Mortgages

Compliance issues involving nonbank servicers remain an ongoing problem, according to new reports from state regulators. And the regulators raised concerns about how a shift by lenders to purchase mortgages increases compliance risks. “The increase in transfers of mortgage servicing rights to non-depositories in recent years has stressed these servicers’ sometimes inadequate operating systems and infrastructures, requiring greater regulatory attention,” the Multi-State Mortgage Committee said in a report to state regulators. The MMC was established by state regulators to supervise multi-state nonbank mortgage entities. Eight mortgage-related exams were... Read More

CFPB Reassures Servicers There Will Be No Repercussions for Violations of Early Implementation of Revised Servicing Rule

Mortgage lenders will not be subject to supervisory or enforcement actions for violations of the early implementation guidance for the revised 2016 mortgage servicing rule, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB issued “non-binding” policy guidance last week to allay lenders’ fear of being penalized if they fail to implement the 2016 servicing amendments up to three days early, said industry attorneys. Issued in August last year, parts of the rules take effect on Oct. 16, 2017, and April 16, 2018. Technically, the “relief” applies... Read More

FHFA Proposes Modest Changes to Low-Income Single-Family, Multifamily Purchase Goals

The Federal Housing Finance Agency proposed minor revisions to its single-family and multifamily housing goals for 2018 through 2020 to push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to continue helping low-income borrowers. The FHFA acknowledged that Fannie and Freddie are challenged when it comes to making credit available for the low-income market. Both government-sponsored enterprises have fallen short of the market in the low-income and very low-income purchase goal almost every year since 2013, the regulator noted. Most of the single-family goals would remain...[Includes one data table] Read More

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