The Federal Housing Finance Agency published its 2019 annual performance plan last week for overseeing the GSEs and Federal Home Loan Banks next year. The performance plan supports the FHFA’s long-range strategic plan, and includes goals, performance measures and targets, and strategies to accomplish those goals.

Fannie Mae Gets Interim CEO. Fannie Mae announced this week that it has appointed Hugh Frater as interim chief executive officer. Frater's appointment will be effective on Oct. 16, 2018, subject to final approval from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The correspondent share of the market rose to 39.5 percent, the highest it has been in years...

The creation of securitization structures to finance mortgage servicing rights was the most significant development for nonbank mortgage lenders in the aftermath of the financial crisis, according to Vandy Fartaj, CEO at PennyMac Financial Services.

Anthony Hsieh's advice for the mortgage industry: Start selling...

Seasonal housing-market factors pushed GSE single-family mortgage business higher in the third quarter, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis of mortgage-backed securities data.Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $213.81 billion of single-family MBS in the third quarter, a 10.4 percent increase from the previous period. The gain came from a 23.4 percent surge in purchase-mortgage business, which offset a 15.5 percent downturn in GSE refi activity. [Includes two data charts.]

A recent court ruling that affirmed the validity of claims that the GSE net worth sweep breached an implied covenant of good faith is a big deal for shareholders, according to the plaintiff’s attorney.David Thompson of Cooper and Kirk told Inside The GSEs this week that U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth’s decision is a “significant victory” for the plaintiffs.

Pilot programs implemented by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over recent years will be the focus of a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing next week. As complaints mount about the process in which a number of pilots were introduced and their threat to the primary market, the Senate decided to tackle the issue during the Oct. 18 “Oversight of Pilot Programs at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac” hearing.

Reven Housing Funding, La Jolla, CA, has closed on a $51.3 million mortgage from Arbor Agency Lending, a Freddie Mac-approved seller/servicer, according to a recent 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Freddie, said one GSE official, is the takeout commitment behind the Arbor loan.

Freddie Mac will begin purchasing community land trust mortgages next month to help support affordable housing efforts. Lenders have been reluctant to make loans on these shared equity homeownership programs because they considered them riskier and had to keep them in their portfolio.