Secondary markets

The move confirms speculation that the Federal Housing Finance Agency would return to a pre-pandemic plan to tighten requirements for mortgage lenders and servicers that work with two government-sponsored enterprises.

Home valuation professionals have had mixed feelings about automation out of concern that some forms could result in less accurate assessments.

The government-sponsored enterprise also unveiled two new tranche slices for investors to purchase.

Average per-loan charges last year were little changed despite the addition of a new temporary fee for refinancing. Those for loan-to-value ratios above 80%, home-purchase financing and adjustable-rate mortgages only rose slightly.

The mortgage giant’s net worth of $42 billion at the end of the quarter was more than double what it was a year earlier. CEO Hugh Frater said that financial strength puts the company on better footing to support affordable housing goals outlined by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The combined refinance and purchase total was nearly double the average quarterly volume logged before the pandemic, the company said in its third-quarter earnings call.

The company will return to selling pieces of its credit exposure to private investors during the last three months of the year, but is still evaluating its strategy for 2022.

The home purchase target for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would set a new 10% benchmark for qualified single-family lending in census tracts that meet certain demographic and income targets.

DeVito takes over on June 1, replacing interim CEO Mark Grier, who returns to his seat on the government-sponsored agency's board.

Democratic senators seek to block the "true lender" regulation, which they say lets national banks sell loans to lenders who then avoid state usury caps. Republicans say overturning the rule would restrict access to credit.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has moved ahead with an earlier proposal to postpone the full adoption of the qualified-mortgage ability-to-repay rule, citing a need to maximize borrowers' credit access.

The company is still searching for someone to fill the roll on a full-time basis, but the $600,000 annual salary cap may limit the candidate pool.

The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility was brought back to inject $100 billion into the pandemic-battered economy, but only a fraction has been disbursed. Yet experts, pointing to its calming effects on markets, recommend that it be extended into next year.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks said the agency plans to issue new assessment procedures within weeks as a follow-up to recent Community Reinvestment Act reforms. He also touched on the “true lender” issue and why the agency is considering a narrow-purpose payments charter.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council’s plan to study the market explains very little about which activities or firms, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will be designated as systemically important. Here's some clearer guidance.

The council created by the Dodd-Frank Act to identify systemic risks launched a review of the market as part of an activities-based approach that shifts focus away from targeting individual firms.

The Federal Housing Administration's move to insure loans with forbearance could help support homeownership opportunities constrained by the coronavirus if one change was made to it, trade groups said.

Groups representing community banks and credit unions generally support the new percentage-based goals set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Banks would be wise to dust off their Great Recession playbook and shed nonperforming loans while growing through M&A.

Some benefits are materializing from Fannie Mae's pledge to limit servicers' exposure to principal-and-interest advances the way Freddie Mac does, but counterparties of both GSEs remain exposed to other concerns.