While a number of structural issues continue to limit activity in the non-agency mortgage-backed security market, reform of the government-sponsored enterprises would dramatically help the sector’s recovery, according to officials at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. “Issuers and investors are not likely to build the infrastructure necessary for a vibrant private-label securities market until they have a better understanding of how the government’s role ...

Lending to veterans and members of the U.S. military is expected to trend up in the second half of 2015 as the economy improves further, wages rise and unemployment declines, predicts the country’s top VA lender. “We’re seeing increased activity in housing while house values have gone up modestly, which I expect will continue in the next couple of years,” said Stan Middleman, president and chief executive of Freedom Mortgage. It is a great time for veterans to purchase a home, Middleman said, and he would he like to see more vets become homeowners. However, despite the low interest rates, crisp and clear underwriting and no downpayment required, many veterans are still not taking advantage of the VA program as they should, he noted. Middleman feels he should advertise and market the VA product more. In the past seven months, Freedom Mortgage has added ...

A more subtle version of looking at redlining is becoming a major focus in fair-lending analysis, according to industry experts participating in a recent webinar sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance. The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act was created in 1974 largely as a tool to fight discriminatory redlining, a practice named for maps that some lenders developed that literally outlined in red the parts of the market where they would not do business. HMDA’s focus on mapping…

An estimated $95.9 billion of mortgages bigger than the traditional agency loan limit were produced during the first quarter of 2015, a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals. Jumbo production – all single-unit mortgages with loan amounts exceeding $417,000 – was up 7.9 percent from the fourth quarter. That was slightly off the pace set in overall mortgage originations, which rose 12.9 percent from the previous quarter. Conforming-jumbo production was...[Includes three data tables]

Democratic leadership in the Senate and the House have introduced the Community Lender Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act of 2015 as an alternative to the GOP-sponsored regulatory relief bill approved by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Most of the provisions in the Democrat legislation were proposed as amendments to the Senate bill and rejected by the Republican majority. The Democrat bill would grant qualified-mortgage status for loans held in portfolio, but only for smaller financial institutions. Banks and credit unions with less than $2 billion in consolidated assets which originate fewer than 2,000 mortgages per year could make loans that exceed the 43 percent debt-to-income ratio under the QM standard and still receive safe harbor status ...

Industry Groups Urge Restructuring of CFPB. Wading into risky political territory, a number of industry groups last week urged Congress to support H.R. 1266, legislation that would revamp the governing structure of the CFPB. Submitting a statement for the record to the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, the industry groups said consumers and the industry would be better served by changing the CFPB governance structure from a single director to a bipartisan five-person commission as used by other federal agencies. “The CFPB has tremendous authority to supervise a multi-trillion dollar industry, which as we have learned, can have incredible ramifications on our economy,” the statement said. “As such, it is imperative the CFPB remain stable ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency needs to be more forthright about its plans to expand the credit-risk transfer activities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. In a letter sent to FHFA Director Mel Watt this week, the six senators said the agency’s public guidance on the program “lacks specificity, metrics and long-term direction.” Watt and other FHFA officials have talked about risk transfers by the two government-sponsored enterprises, but most of the description of the program is somewhat vaguely outlined in the agency’s strategic plan and the so-called 2015 scorecard. The bipartisan group, which includes Sens. Mark Warner, D-VA, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, urged...

The FHA plans to issue a proposed rule in the fall that would allow it to insure single-family condominium units in multifamily projects, according to the agency’s regulatory agenda for the second half of 2015. The proposed rule would cover condo units that are attached, detached, semi-detached or manufactured. It would apply as well to undivided interests in the common areas and facilities that serve the project. The proposed change would clarify and ensure lender compliance with the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. HERA moved FHA’s authority to insure single-family condominiums from Section 234 to Section 203 of the National Housing Act. However, because Section 203 does not provide the same authority for FHA, rulemaking became necessary. HERA also granted FHA the authority to issue administrative notices to convey condominium policy guidance until a ...

Nearly a score of industry trade groups sent a letter this week to the leadership of the House Financial Services Committee, urging them to pass legislation to provide a reasonable hold-harmless period for enforcement of the CFPB’s TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures (TRID) regulation for lenders trying to do their best to comply. “We appreciate that the bureau indicated it will be sensitive to the progress made by those entities that make good-faith efforts to comply,” the 19 groups said in a letter to Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, and Ranking Member Maxine Waters, D-CA. “At the same time, the industry needs...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and Rep. Ed Royce, R-CA, agree that housing reform needs to happen, but while Royce emphasized the need to get private capital back in the system, Castro focused on the issue of credit access. Royce and Castro were speakers during a June 3 housing finance forum in Washington sponsored by the National Journal. Castro said part of the challenge for Democrats and Republicans in both Houses is the issue of access to credit. “How do you ensure that in the system there’s a good amount of access of credit to people of moderate means just like people of strong means,” said Castro.