Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to guarantee a significant volume of interest-only mortgages in late 2006 as the industry wrestled with tough new underwriting standards and consumer disclosure guidelines handed down from federal regulators... [Includes two charts]
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While the Bush administration and key Democrats in the House have reportedly narrowed the gap in their views on legislation to reform the government-sponsored enterprises, proposed increases in conforming loan limits remain unresolved and industry critics may...
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Fannie Mae is expanding the range of mortgage products it will buy with interest-only payment plans, and dropping its prices for certain of these loans that formerly went by the InterestFirst brand. The government-sponsored enterprise also tightened the underwriting standards for IO loans, bringing its requirements in line with controversial guidelines issued by…
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The Department of Housing and Urban Development has identified a number of markets in California, Maryland and Washington that merit the highest $362,790 FHA loan limit for 2007, even though FHA loan limits themselves remained unchanged this year...
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Fluctuating interest rates combined with market value accounting to force Freddie Mac to report a rare loss during the third quarter, reflecting a trend likely to be repeated in the future. In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Freddie Chairman and CEO Dick Syron indicated the government-sponsored enterprise could report a similar loss for...
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The Basel II capital standards are likely to give the largest U.S. banks a new edge over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But the rules would have little impact on most mortgage bankers and mortgage affiliates. These were the findings of a study commissioned by the Mortgage Bankers Association and released this week to gauge the impact of the new Basel II standards on competition within the U.S. resi-dential mortgage market. The standards were designed…
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