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Inside The GSEs

August 6, 2008

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‘Super’ Regulator Looks a Lot Like OFHEO

The “world class regulator” that was supposed to be created when President George Bush signed the omnibus housing/GSE reform package into law right out of the box looks, acts, and talks a lot like the old Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, and very little like the Federal Housing Finance Board. Observers expect that trend to intensify in the near term as OFHEO personnel... Read More

FHLBs Now Face a New Regulatory Landscape

Some Federal Home Loan Banks fear the outcome of the federal government taking its involvement in their affairs to a far deeper level with the passage of H.R. 3221, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, into law on July 30. Beyond replacing the Federal Housing Finance Board with a new Federal Housing Finance Agency, HERA touches issues related both to FHLBank oversight as... Read More

Don’t Expect Immediate Regulatory Changes

Mortgage industry insiders, GSE critics and political observers don’t expect to see much of a change in the near term in the regulation of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks in the wake of the enactment of comprehensive GSE reform.First, the leadership of the new regulatory agency, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is still feeling its way around its new... Read More

GSE Jumbo Authority Survives, But at a Lower Limit

Lenders that sell the so-called GSE jumbo mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be able to breathe a bit easier after President George Bush last week signed H.R. 3221, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the massive housing legislation passed earlier in July by the House and the Senate. Of particular interest to loan sellers is the continuation of the new conforming... Read More

Hard-Line Reform Hawks Claim a Win Over FNM, FRE

Sometimes you do your job so well, you make yourself obsolete. And that appears to be the case for the long-time critic and opponent of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FM Policy Focus, an enterprise backed by banking and mortgage insurance interests that has labored for the better part of a decade to pull back or slow down the two GSEs. When measured in terms of money spent on lobbying, it’s been a classic... Read More

GSE Reform Enacted, But Debate Continues

It took the better part of a decade to get comprehensive reform of the GSEs enacted, but now that’s it done, that hasn’t silenced the public policy debate over the nature of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the role they play in the nation’s housing finance system. In fact, it seems as if all the attention on the GSEs during the deliberations over the federal housing relief package has brought... Read More

Green Housing Goals for Fannie, Freddie Get a Boost

What once seemed a far-fetched notion to some came a step closer to becoming a reality when the House Financial Services Committee late last week unanimously passed legislation that would impose another set of housing objectives on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: “green” housing goals to promote the construction of more energy efficient homes. H.R. 6078, the Green Resources for Energy Efficient... Read More

GSE Debt Activity Rebounds a Bit from 1Q08

After slipping 0.2 percent in the first quarter of the year, the debt activity of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bounced backed a bit in the second quarter, with combined debt outstanding rising 6.9 percent, from $1.578 trillion to $1.686 trillion, already surpassing the $1.581 trillion issued in all of 2007, according to the latest analysis by Inside The GSEs... [Includes one chart] Read More

Covered Bond Threat to FHLBank Advances Rises

The Federal Home Loan Banks saw a potentially serious threat to their booming advance business emerge last week, when financial regulators, major banks and securities dealers participated in the launch of a new initiative to bolster the developing covered bond market in the U.S. “We’re concerned about the covered bond market here in this country because it competes with our advances... Read More

News In Brief

Big FHFA Personnel Moves Are Already Underway: The new GSE regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, isn’t even officially... Freddie 2Q Losses Higher than Market Expected; GSE Takes $1 Billion Writedown: Freddie Mac reported a second quarter loss of $821 million as Inside The GSEs... GSEs Playing Catch-up With Servicer Costs: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last week boosted the financial incentives they pay to... Read More

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