New production of agency single-family MBS increased by 6.6 percent from July to August as the midyear home-buying season continued to generate a healthy supply of new primary market originations, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. Mortgage lenders last month pushed a total of $90.95 billion of single-family MBS through the securitization programs of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. It was the biggest monthly volume since September 2013, but August issuance was boosted by an unusually large volume of seasoned loans that also helped tilt the competitive landscape. Freddie saw...[Includes two data charts]

Commercial banks held $1.386 trillion of residential MBS at the end of June, marking their second consecutive quarterly gain in MBS investment, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. The 0.7 percent increase in bank MBS holdings was enough to offset a 3.5 percent drop in thrift investment in the sector. On a combined basis, banks and thrifts saw an 0.3 percent increase in residential MBS during the second quarter, though the industry remained 0.2 percent below the level set at the midway point in 2013. All of the increase came...[Includes two data charts]

Ever since the housing bust, mortgage bankers have coveted the Ginnie Mae “eagle,” which allows them to issue and service the agency’s MBS, but the pipeline of new applications is slowing. According to figures provided to Inside MBS & ABS, the agency had received 78 new applications through the end of July compared to 89 in fiscal 2013 and 99 the prior year. In an interview with this newsletter, Ginnie President Ted Tozer acknowledged the decline in applications, but didn’t seem all that concerned, adding: “I think we received a bunch recently.” In other words, applications could wind up...

Does JPM's Jamie Dimon really care about the mortgage business? Or is he in it for the CRA credits?

When lawmakers return from their five-week August recess next week, House and Senate members will face a lengthy agenda with just a short period of time to get it done. Conspicuously absent from the Congressional to-do list is housing finance reform. With approximately 12 scheduled legislative days before the Nov. 4 midterm elections, industry observers note that lawmakers won’t get to some things until they return for the lame duck session, while other bills will fade away as the clock runs out.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposed tightening of rules for private mortgage insurers that do business with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a “thoughtful effort,” but “modest changes” are required, conclude a trio of economists in a paper issued last week. Moody’s Analytics’ Mark Zandi and Chris deRitis and the Urban Institute’s Jim Parrott said that the FHFA’s Private Mortgage Insurance Eligibility Requirements “should succeed” in ensuring that private MI are strong counterparties to the GSEs, while serving as “a much improved bulwark against excessive risk” in the system.

Although Freddie Mac’s official watchdog found the GSE’s review process of servicer reimbursement claims to be “generally effective,” some tens of millions of dollars could be saved by scrutinizing servicer payments for costs incurred on loan defaults. According to an audit issued last week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Inspector General, Freddie reimbursed 460 of its servicers $1.4 billion in 2013 but identified and denied $126 million in what the IG calls “erroneous” claims. The IG noted that Freddie’s top 10 servicers, relative to total reimbursements, accounted for 87 percent of all reimbursements made by Freddie in 2013.

Bank of America this week launched an appeal to overturn a jury verdict that found it liable for thousands of bad mortgages sold by Countrywide leading to a $1.27 billion judgment. U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff levied the judgment in July after a New York jury last fall found the Charlotte, NC-based bank liable for fraud over a Countrywide program known in the industry as “the Hustle.”

The Mortgage Bankers Association is pushing back against proposed “costly and expensive” recommendations by the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s official watchdog that would likely not done much to prevent a multi-billion fraud scheme against the GSEs. The report by the FHFA’s Inspector General said regulators, counterparties and investigators missed the swindle perpetrated by the now-defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage because they ignored various red flags.

HSBC Holdings is headed for trial later this month, absent a deal, after a New York federal judge rejected a last ditch effort by HSBC and Nomura Holdings to toss their mortgage-backed securities suit brought by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote’s ruling reaffirmed earlier rulings that the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 extended the time that the FHFA could file claims against a host of big banks.