Freddie Prices First Risk-Sharing Transaction of 2014. Freddie Mac this week announced a $1 billion offering of its Structured Agency Credit Risk debt notes. The deal is backed by 140,000 residential loans, representing an unpaid principal balance of approximately $32.4 billion. This STACR pool consists of 30-year fixed-rate single-family mortgages acquired by Freddie in the second quarter of 2013.More than 65 investors participated in the offering, Freddie said.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $47.0 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during January, starting 2014 off with a 15.8 percent decline from December 2013, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. January’s drop was even steeper, at 61.9 percent, from the same period a year ago.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dominated the residential mortgage market in 2013, albeit to a lesser degree, than the GSEs had during the previous 12-month period, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Fannie and Freddie issued a combined $1.571 trillion of single-family mortgage-backed securities in 2013, which equaled 73.8 percent of total market production. That was down from 75.7 percent in 2012.

January 2014 marked the fourth month in a row where combined agency securitization included more purchase-money mortgages than refinances, according to Inside MBS & ABS.

New production of single-family agency MBS in January 2014 fell to its lowest monthly volume in five years, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae generated a total of $67.82 billion in single-family MBS last month, a 10.4 percent drop from December 2013. It was the weakest monthly issuance since January 2009, when $64.39 billion of new agency MBS were produced as world financial markets tried to recover from collapse. Market conditions – if you don’t consider the weather outside – were...[Includes one data chart]

Despite the findings of the Inspector General's office regarding appraisal reviews, the GSEs’ recent books of business are considered to be of pristine quality.

The Treasury Department’s surprise move in the summer of 2012 to rewrite the Senior Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements it had with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was an “unlawful” action that could have a far-reaching impact well beyond the shareholders of the two government-sponsored enterprises, according to an attorney representing shareholders. Speaking Wednesday at a forum sponsored by Ralph Nader’s Shareholder Rights advocacy group, attorney Ted Olson of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher said Treasury’s Third Amendment to the PSPA was a calculated effort by the Obama administration to ensure that GSE stockholders got nothing, according to internal Treasury documents they obtained. The amendment replaced the quarterly GSE dividend payment with a net-worth sweep of all company profits. Perry Capital, represented by Olson, is...

The Federal Reserve’s move to reduce its purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities may eventually change the relative costs and benefits of financing new production through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. “We’re in an environment where I think banks are going to get interested in at least the more attractive credit risks and holding those in portfolio,” said Mark Calabria, director of financial regulation studies at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, DC. “So, to me, the most important question going forward over the next two years for the MBS market is how much of this [new production] is going to make its way into MBS and how much will be held on balance sheets as whole loans.” Calabria predicted...

Morgan Stanley notes: “The agreement in principle is subject to final approvals by the parties. In connection with the settlement, the company will record an addition to legal reserves of $150 million, which will have the impact of reducing income..."

Treasury’s “Third Amendment” to the PSPA – which replaced the quarterly GSE dividend payment with a “net worth sweep” of all company profits – was the culmination of a calculated administration effort, according to former Solicitor General Ted Olson.