Additional industry layoffs are likely in the months ahead. In the first quarter, all lenders originated just $235 billion in mortgages. It was the weakest production quarter in 14 years.
Did someone in the mortgage industry actually ask one of the GSEs recently to increase the 25 basis point servicing fee that it pays to residential servicers?
Industry officials who have studied the issue contend that the Treasury Department does not have the legal right to give Fannie and Freddie back to their junior and common shareholders. In short, it would take an act of Congress.
According to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, in the fourth quarter brokers facilitated roughly 9.8 percent of all originations, one of the lowest readings ever.
Since late last year, the FHFA has required that any Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac MSR sale of $5 billion or more – roughly 5,000 loans – be approved by the agency.
Under the original conservatorship agreement, the GSEs are allowed to maintain a small capital buffer, but within three years that buffer will be reduced to zero.
As far as pricing goes, if g-fees are raised Fannie and Freddie could earn more money – cash that ultimately would wind up at the Treasury Department, which sweeps most of their earnings each quarter.
A new trade group is showing true love for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Also, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is giving lenders some breathing room on the Qualified Mortgage/Ability-to-Repay rule.
The creation of a U.S. sovereign wealth fund could grease the skids for an end to the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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