Secondary Market

Credit risk transfer (CRT) or sharing is the process in which the government-sponsored enterprises bundle up the mortgages they buy from lenders and sell a portion of the risk to private investors. Instead of the GSEs shouldering the loan risk alone, selected investors help offset any potential risk from loan defaults. CRT began as a test in 2012 and is now quickly ramping up as investor interest and governmental oversight grows. Governmental oversight makes sense—we don’t want another 2007. But why are more investors becoming so interested in CRT?

The status quo for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be changing according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. He and FHFA Director Melvin Watt separately addressed the state of the GSEs Thursday. Watt explained that reforms during conservatorship need to be kept in mind when addressing housing finance reform.

On Wednesday, Freddie Mac announced its first re-performing structured sale of 2017, a $292 million sale of a pool of seasoned loans from its mortgage investments portfolio. The pool of loans, currently being serviced by Select Portfolio Servicing Inc., includes loans with step-rate modifications and GSE loans modified under GSE proprietary modifications.

Financial Freedom, a division of OneWest Bank agreed to a settlement of over $89 million on Tuesday, resolving allegations from the Department of Justice that the accusing the company of violating the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 in connection with its participation in a federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages or ‘reverse mortgage’ program.

Fannie Mae predicts a steady growth in the economy, driven mainly by consumer spending in Q2. The GSE’s projections for a more robust Q2 are following a familiar path. This year looks to be the fourth one in a row in which Q2 rebounded after a droopy Q1.

As the Federal Reserve begins to normalize their balance sheet, speculators believe that the final product may be up to three times larger than it was before the financial crisis, if not bigger. The balance sheet refers to the portfolio of securities, such as various types of Treasury debt and mortgage-backed securities (MBS), that it has purchased. Rising interest rates are sure to drive up rates in the housing market, and the Fed’s decision to pullback from mortgage-backed securities will only add to the rising rates.

On Tuesday, Fannie Mae will release its May 2017 Economic and Housing Outlook report. The Outlook is a forecast of economic trends in the housing and mortgage-finance markets, analyzing current and historical data. The previous Outlook from April 2017 saw weak overall economic patterns, while housing activity stayed relatively strong, which Fannie Mae tied to warmer weather.

On May 10, representatives from the leading mortgage servicers and default servicing law firms in the U.S. met to discuss issues currently impacting business. The Servicer Summit is a biannual gathering of leaders from the mortgage servicing and legal communities focused on fostering conversation and learning from each other.

Bankruptcy filings took another fall for another straight month in April 2017. The number of filings has dropped year-over-year every April since 2011, according to April 2017 AACER bankruptcy data reported by Epiq Systems this week.

In an effort to better serve some persistent affordable housing problems in the U.S. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released their proposed Duty to Serve plans. "Duty to Serve presents a welcome opportunity to lead the mortgage industry and help more American families with their housing needs," said Danny Gardner, Freddie Mac's vice president of affordable lending and access to credit. The purpose of the plan is to better serve some persistent affordable housing problems in the U.S.