Fannie Mae said this week it is all set for meeting the 2013 risk-sharing goal set by its conservator for each of the government-sponsored enterprises after announcing back-to-back risk-sharing deals over the last two weeks. Fannie this week priced a $675 million bond offering under its Connecticut Avenue Securities series. The deal is backed by a reference pool of more than 112,000 single-family mortgages with an outstanding unpaid principal balance of $27 billion. The company late last week reported...
In the third quarter of 2013, Wells Fargo sold a mere $8.4 billion in residential mortgages to Freddie Mac, a 71.3 percent plunge in volume from the second quarter, and a figure that represents just 17 percent of what the nations largest lender sold to Fannie Mae.
Although the credit characteristics of Fannie/Freddie purchase mortgages have remained fairly consistent over the year, there were some signs of loosening.
Still, one industry lobbyist warns that with Cory Bookers election to the Senate, the White House may be willing to exert more influence to advance Mel Watts nomination to head the FHFA.
Purchase-mortgage lending has become increasingly critical to maintaining production volume throughout the year, and there are some indicators that lenders may be starting to stretch a little more to bring in new business, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan-level data. During September, purchase mortgages accounted for 42.4 percent of new business at the government-sponsored enterprises and may well surpass refinance volume by the end of the year. As recently as March 2013, purchase mortgages represented just 16.3 percent of single-family loans securitized by the two GSEs. After monthly activity peaked at $36.9 billion in August, the actual volume of purchase mortgages delivered to the GSEs did sputter...[Includes two data charts]
In the third quarter of 2013, Wells Fargo sold a mere $8.4 billion in residential mortgages to Freddie Mac, a 71.3 percent plunge in volume from the second quarter, and a figure that represents just 17 percent of what the nations largest lender sold to Fannie Mae. Analysts that closely follow Wells Fargo believe that the megabanks switch in secondary market strategy was simply a matter of money, as securitizing through Fannie was more profitable than sending most of its business to Freddie, as it traditionally has. Moshe Orenbuch, an analyst and managing director at Credit Suisse, noted...
Since the summer, the regulator has been pondering reducing the current $417,000 maximum loan limit and the high cost limit of $625,500. At the earliest, a change could come by January.
The low profile of the FHLBs, which has served the system so well in the past, has become a sizable policy risk as the relatively few people who will be directing housing finance reform know what the system does.
Clayton noted 907 compliance findings from its review. However, Fitch said the findings were deemed to be out of scope and waived by Fannie due to the limited scope of its post-close review for compliance.