The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General said it wants to ensure that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their regulator are making the most of their real estate-owned policies given the expected increase in REO activities in the years to come. The FHFA-OIG’s audit report issued earlier this month noted that between 2007 and the end of 2011, the two GSEs have nearly tripled their REO inventories to nearly 180,000 units and their related expenses to $8.5 billion. “Given the ongoing delays in the foreclosure process and the financial distress in which millions of American homeowners continue to find themselves, the enterprises are likely to face elevated REO inventories and costs for years to come,” said the OIG.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency would employ a new, more comprehensive examination rating system which would be used to inspect Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks and the Banks’ Office of Finance under a proposed rule issued last week. The proposed new system, published in the June 19 Federal Register, seeks to implement a single risk-focused examination system for all three entities that would be similar to the “CAMELS” rating system used by federal prudential regulators for depository institutions.

Military homeowners holding Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans with Permanent Change of Station Orders will be eligible to sell their homes in short sale even if they are current on their mortgage under a new policy announced by the GSEs’ regulator late last week. The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s short-sale policy change is intended to make it easier for military homeowners with GSE loans to honor their financial commitments when they are required to move…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be excluded from purchasing loans subject to Property Assessed Clean Energy liens under a rule formally issued by the Federal Housing Finance Agency regulator two weeks ago. The FHFA’s notice of proposed rulemaking, was published in the June 15 Federal Register for public comment in compliance with a federal court order. The proposed rule directs Fannie and Freddie “not to purchase any mortgage where PACE financing with a priority lien was placed on the underlying property. Such financing moves ahead of the pre-existing first mortgage in lien priority, and thereby subordinates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac security interests in the property.”

Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s home retention activity declined for the most part during the first quarter of 2012, according to a new analysis of Federal Housing Finance Agency data by Inside The GSEs. Total loss mitigation activity – total home retention efforts and foreclosure alternatives combined – declined 5.0 percent during the first quarter of the year to 214,812 and was down 14.3 percent from year-ago levels. Our analysis was based on the FHFA’s First Quarter 2012 Foreclosure Prevention Report. Total home retention efforts came to 111,739 at the end of the first quarter, a decrease of 7.4 percent from the fourth quarter 2011 and down 22.4 percent from the same period a year before.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency last week finalized a rule which establishes prudential standards relating to the management and operations of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 requires the FHFA director to establish standards that address 10 separate areas relating to the management and operation of the GSEs and FHLBanks and authorizes the director to establish the standards by regulation or by guideline.

Tentative signs of stability in home prices in early 2012 have yet to spur a rebound in home-equity lending, as the outstanding balance of second mortgages fell to its lowest level in seven years. According to the Federal Reserve, the supply of home-equity loans fell 2.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012 to just $849.5 billion. The home-equity market, which includes home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages, has shrunk by 24.9 percent since peaking...(Includes three data charts)

The lure of discount pricing combined with the hassle of tough mortgage underwriting standards appears to be pushing more homebuyers away from mortgage financing and toward all-cash home purchases, the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey results suggest. According to the new HousingPulse data, the share of homebuyers relying on all-cash transactions climbed to a record high 35.2 percent in May. That was up from a 30.7 percent level a year ago and...

Federal banking regulators last week released their Financial Remediation Framework for independent foreclosure review consultants to use in determining the compensation due homeowners financially injured by servicers’ foreclosure practices in 2009 and 2010, generally capping damages at $125,000 but allowing borrowers to pursue litigation if they so choose. “The guidance helps ensure that similarly situated borrowers who suffered financial injury as a result of errors in foreclosure actions on their homes are treated similarly,” said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which issued the guidance in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Board. Under the framework, remediation could include lump-sum payments; suspension or rescission of a foreclosure; the provision of...

Old Republic International Corp.’s top management said it is postponing indefinitely plans to reenter the mortgage guaranty market after cancelling a planned spinoff and reversing the partial leveraged buyout of its subsidiary, Republic Financial Indemnity Group. In a conference call this week, ORI Chief Executive Officer Aldo Zucaro stood by the company’s decision to withdraw the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in May for spinning off RFIG common stock to ORI shareholders. He said stakeholders, including the North Carolina Department of Insurance, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, banks, debtholders and shareholders, rejected...