Tag Archives: FHFA

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) says it wants input on a plan to lower the ceiling for loans eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Under FHFA's proposed plan, the $417,000 maximum limit for single-family homes in most areas around the country would be lowered to $400,000, a reduction of about 4 percent. Areas with higher limits would see a similar cut, with the $625,500 maximum dropping to $600,000.

Federal regulators have revised new appraisal rules set to take effect in January to include exemptions for some higher-priced mortgage loans, according to a press release from six federal financial agencies. Officials described the updated exemptions as ""appropriate,"" and added loans less than $25,000, streamlined refinances, and loans secured by a manufactured home and land as exempt.

As the newly confirmed Mel Watt prepares to take the reins at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, current Acting Director Edward DeMarco has announced changes to the agency's senior staff. Jeffrey Spohn, deputy director of the Office of Conservatorship Operations, will retire in January. To fill the role, the agency has appointed Wanda DeLeo, who currently serves as deputy director in the Office of Strategic Initiatives. The two divisions will be combined into a new Division of Conservatorship to ease the transition.

Following a play by Democrats to defang Republicans' filibuster powers, the U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Rep. Mel Watt (D-North Carolina) as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The vote went 57-41 in Watt's favor, the Wall Street Journal reports. All Senate Democrats voted in favor of confirmation; they were joined across the aisle by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Richard Burr (R-North Carolina).

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to raise their guarantee fees (g-fees). The g-fee increase consists of three components: the base fee for all mortgages will increase 10 basis points; the g-fee grid will be updated to ensure pricing is aligned with credit risk; and the adverse market fee of 25 basis points is being eliminated except in four states where foreclosure carrying costs are exponentially high.

Speaking at an industry symposium recently, Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council for the White House, stressed the importance of securitization in the housing market, saying it makes mortgages cheaper and enables banks to free up limited capital to support additional home purchases and other forms of lending. However, he says the current securitization market is in need of major reforms.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have aligned their master policies for mortgage insurance. Among the new requirements incorporated by each GSE are provisions to facilitate faster and more consistent claims processing, specific time frame mandates, and standards for when coverage must be maintained and when it may be revoked. The new policies are expected to take effect in 2014.

Having risen for the previous four months, mortgage interest rates stumbled in October, according to data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Using data on more than 5,700 loans from 33 different lenders, FHFA calculated a composite contract rate of 4.32 percent for loans closed in late October, a decline of 4 basis points from September.

Analysts expect to see a new face at the helm of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) now that Senate Democrats have changed the rules so that a filibuster can't be used to block presidential appointments. Now only needing a simple majority for confirmation, Mel Watt's 56 votes in the Senate's first decision on his nomination mean he has enough support to become director of the FHFA--a change analysts say raises policy risk but also credit availability.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to see strong profits as the housing market improves. With the release of their third-quarter results the GSEs announced they will be making substantial payments to the U.S. Treasury in December--$8.6 billion from Fannie Mae and $30.4 billion from Freddie Mac. Together, the two companies will have paid back about $185 billion to taxpayers as of December, nearly equaling the $188 billion in bailout money provided to the two mortgage financiers.