From what we understand, some GSE employees with MBS backgrounds are eagerly volunteering their services to the CSS project, believing that the “end product,” the MBS, is where the future lies.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released a final rule defining a “qualified mortgage” that is insured by the FHA. The final rule will be effective on Jan. 10, 2014. The HUD rule builds off the QM/Ability-to-Repay rule, which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized earlier this year. The Dodd-Frank Act requires HUD to propose a QM definition that is aligned with the ability-to-repay criteria set out in the Truth in Lending Act and with the agency’s mission to ...

In the third quarter of 2013, the level of home-mortgage debt outstanding grew for the first time since early 2008 as the housing industry continued to climb out of the crater. The Federal Reserve this week announced there was $9.864 trillion of single-family mortgages outstanding at the end of September, a tiny 0.1 percent increase from the previous quarter. But after four and half years of decline, the gain seemed monumental. The central bank noted that all the increase was in first mortgages, while the supply of home-equity loans outstanding continued to shrink. Servicing attached to Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs continued...[Includes one data chart]

Senior lawmakers in the Senate said they remain “bullish” on moving legislation to the floor sooner rather than later in 2014.

Want to sell a large chunk of MSRs? If it's Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac product you'll have to run the deal past the FHFA.

Officials close to the matter said the MI policy briefing was cancelled due to Senate approval of a new permanent director to the agency, Mel Watt, a former North Carolina Congressman.

In certain ways, HUD’s "qualified mortgage" definition is less restrictive than the CFPB edict, including setting no limit on a borrower’s debt-to-income ratio.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week announced it would direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to implement a three-pronged adjustment in guaranty fee the two government-sponsored enterprises charge lenders, including a 10 basis point g-fee hike beginning in March. The increases – which would boost the average guaranty fee for new loans to over 60 bps – are part of the FHFA’s strategic plan for Fannie and Freddie to attract more private capital to the mortgage market and “improve the relationship between g-fee and risk,” according to FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco. As part of the plan, Fannie and Freddie will drop...

Purchase-mortgage originations continued to grow during the third quarter of 2013, with a significant share of the loans coming from loan correspondents, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. Lenders generated an estimated $218.0 billion in purchase mortgages during the third quarter, the highest three-month volume since the third quarter of 2007. That was up 17.2 percent from the second quarter and it brought year-to-date production to $583.0 billion, up 30.4 percent from the same period in 2012. Refinance production continued...[Includes four data charts]

It wasn’t much of a surprise when the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced FHA loan limits for 2014 that lowered the top high-cost market limit, but many were caught off guard by the change in how limits are calculated and by revised median house prices. HUD this week announced that the cap for single-family mortgages in the most expensive housing markets of the lower 48 states would drop from $729,750 to $625,500. That’s the same as the maximum high-cost limit for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. During the first half of 2013, only about $2.05 billion of FHA loans exceeded $625,500, or about 1.5 percent of FHA business. But the sunset of the FHA provisions in the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 also meant...