Tag Archives: Fannie Mae

More than 11,000 homeowners have participated in Fannie Mae's post-modification counseling since 2011. Recognizing that many homeowners continue to struggle with their finances after receiving loan modifications, Fannie Mae developed the post-modification counseling program to take a holistic approach to individual finances and set borrowers on a sustainable path. Currently, there are 18 servicers that utilize the program.

FBR Capital Markets on Wednesday raised its projection for new mortgage volume in the third quarter to $400-$420 billion, largely due to more activity from special servicers as larger banks relinquish market share. FBR anticipates strong performance from these specialty servicers, partly because of their ability to effectually mine acquired portfolios for refinancing opportunities.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) touted progress made toward building a new common securitization platform between the GSEs, saying the joint venture ""reached some important milestones"" Monday. Paperwork was filed with the state of Delaware, office space has been secured for the new entity, and executive recruiting is already underway.

Continuing the trend observed in August, Americans' enthusiasm for the housing market abated last month as the government's fiscal policy debate came back into the spotlight. Fannie Mae says it's found that although consumers are ""generally positive"" about housing and the economy, attitudes over the last few months suggest optimism has hit a plateau, even softened.

In the latest of its consumer education videos, Zillow recently sat down with the Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) Barry Zigas to discuss the center's ideas for GSE reform and how they compare to current legislative efforts. After 16 months of research, hearings, and meetings with industry stakeholders, the BPC emerged with a plan for unwinding the GSEs and instituting a limited government guarantee on securities.

With Congress pondering (among other things) how best to reform the nation's housing finance system, Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) is urging lawmakers not to count smaller banks out when drafting new policies. ICBA warns policymakers to ""be careful not to create a new [secondary market] system that destroys liquidity for all but the few largest players.""

As most housing metrics turned around last year, one vital statistic stayed down: the homeownership rate. However, one analyst at Fannie Mae says low homeownership--when put in context with other data--might indicate a promising trend in sustainability; in particular, tight loan qualification standards should equate to new homeowners whose housing costs are much better aligned with incomes.

Sen. Mark R. Warner is seeing tremendous momentum toward GSE reform in Congress, he said during a discussion with Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries this week. He also expressed his optimism that the Housing Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013, a bill he helped co-sponsor, actually has a chance of passing.

Fannie Mae has announced a change to the operations of its Mortgage Help Centers, which are located in areas of the country hardest hit by the housing crisis. Because the centers see so little foot traffic, Fannie Mae will transition to a telephone and email based system to help struggling homeowners.

Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey for August shows more people are optimistic about price gains over the next year (55 percent, up from 53 percent), though the average expected gain has pulled back slightly to 3.4 percent (compared to July's high of 3.9 percent). The share of people expecting prices to fall bounced up to 7 percent from July's low of 6 percent. The company explained that consumers' attitudes have hit a plateau ""due to concerns regarding the potential tapering of the Federal Reserve's asset purchases.""