Tag Archives: FHFA

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have completed nearly 3.2 million foreclosure prevention actions since the start of the government's conservatorship of the two companies in 2008. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Foreclosure Prevention Report, 88,000 actions were performed in the first quarter of 2014 alone.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its latest Refinance Report, examining data as of the end of April 2014. The FHFA found that overall refinance volume rose slightly in April, but remained at levels more comparable to those seen in 2008.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), functioning as the conservator for Freddie Mac, announced a settlement with RBS Securities, Inc. RBS will pay $99.5 million, resolving claims against RBS in FHFA v. Ally Financial Inc.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) submitted its 2013 Report to Congress, which detailed findings from the agency's examination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The report found that although experiencing significant exposure to credit losses from mortgage originations several years prior to the government's conservatorship, the two GSEs had record amounts of net income in 2013.

Despite disappointing home sales in the first quarter of the year as winter storms took their toll, home prices increased 1.3 percent over the first three months of the year on a seasonally-adjusted basis for the purchase-only market, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its latest Refinance Report, looking at data from the first quarter of 2014. The government agency reported that in Q1 2014, approximately 77,000 refinances were completed through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), bringing the total refinances through HARP to 3.1 million since the program's inception.

Nearly 12 percent of home purchase loans in today's market run the risk of default in the event of an economic downturn, according to a new report from the American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) International Center on Housing Risk. AEI's National Mortgage Risk Index (NMRI), a measure of loan default risk under stressful conditions, increased to 11.9 percent for April, up nearly half a percentage point from March.

Despite some recent kickback from Senate Democrats, the Johnson-Crapo reform bill that plans to phase out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac passed the Senate Banking Committee by a bipartisan vote of 13-9. The legislation is an agreement between Chairman Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) "designed to stabilize the housing finance market and strengthen the American economy," the committee said in a press release.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has been busy. After a recent Mel Watt speech as well as a plan for the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government agency released its Foreclosure Prevention Report for February 2014. The report contains data regarding the foreclosure prevention activity of the GSEs as of the end of February.

In a speaking engagement at the Brookings Institution, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Melvin L. Watt spoke about his new 2014 Strategic Plan for the Conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, highlighting a few major changes to the plan. Notably Watt’s plan removes any intention to reduce the GSEs' presence in the market, a central part of former Acting Director Edward DeMarco's strategic plan.