Tag Archives: Fannie Mae

Lulls in employment and income growth led to a plateau in consumer sentiment in May, according to Fannie Mae's May 2012 National Housing Survey. The data released by Fannie Mae on Thursday showed that although many consumers (72 percent) believe that now is a good time to purchase a house, the percentage of respondents who said they would buy a house after moving actually dropped for the second consecutive month-63 percent in May compared to 64 percent in April and 66 percent in March. Fifteen percent of respondents said now is a good time to sell a home.

As of Wednesday, Fannie Mae has blanket delegation of authority on behalf of all servicers from United Guaranty Corporation, the GSE announced. Servicers can now apply Fannie Mae's guidelines and process a pre-foreclosure sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure in connection with Fannie Mae-owned or guaranteed loans without obtaining approval from UGC.

The board of directors for Fannie Mae announced Tuesday the appointment of Timothy J. Mayopoulos, 53, as president and CEO beginning June 18. Mayopoulos will replace current chief executive Michael J. Williams, who announced his resignation in January. Currently, Mayopoulos serves as EVP, chief administrative officer, and general counsel for Fannie. He has spent more than 25 years in the financial services sector, holding senior-level posts with Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Congress has already approved of raising Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee fees to support non-housing related initiatives once before. Now, lawmakers are contemplating the use of GSE guarantee fees to fund student loan relief. In response to this, officials from Nationwide Title Clearing sent a release asking Congress not to raid the real estate piggy bank, stating an increase will lead to higher interest rates.

The Community Mortgage Lenders of America (CMLA) released a white paper outlining its policy suggestions for the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Shrinking the GSEs role in the secondary market to 30-35 percent and preventing them from securitizing or investing into risky mortgages were among the ideas the trade group endorses. Still, the CMLA said it wants to see the GSEs remain intact due to uncertainty in the markets and to ensure further destabilization does not occur.

Tuesday's report showed that during the first quarter of 2012, the 60+ day delinquency rate for commercial and multifamily mortgages held in life insurance company portfolios decreased 0.03 percentage points to 0.14 percent. The 60+ day rate for multifamily loans held or insured by Fannie Mae also decreased, falling 0.22 percentage points to 0.37 percent. The 90+ day delinquency rate for loans held by FDIC-insured banks and thrifts dropped 0.13 percentage points to 3.44 percent.

According to the GSE's monthly summary, its gross mortgage balance fell with a decrease in sales and purchases. The 13.8 percent shrinkage rate was greater than March's 7.3 percent and the highest since January, when it was 14.3 percent. The negative growth rate year-to-date in April was 10.3 percent.These falling values led to shrinkage in Fannie Mae's Book of Business, with an annualized rate decrease of 8 percent for April. This was a marked fall from March's positive 9.3 percent growth and brings the year-to-date rate growth to negative 0.3 percent.

The number of loans refinanced through HARP in the first quarter of 2012 was nearly double the number of refinances in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) March 2012 Refinance Report. The report showed that 180,185 loans were refinanced through HARP during the year's first quarter, nearly twice the 93,190 refinances in the previous quarter. The month of March alone saw 79,470 loans refinanced with HARP, and nearly one in seven loan refinances in the quarter were done through program. The FHFA attributed most of this increase to the launch of HARP 2.0, an enhanced version of the program that eliminated loan-to-value (LTV) ceilings for borrowers.

Edward J. DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), announced Thursday the appointment of Wanda I. DeLeo as Deputy Director leading the newly created Office of Strategic Initiatives. DeLeo has served in several leadership roles at FHFA, including her most recent stint as Deputy Director for the agency's Division of Examination Programs and Support.

Lenders and services now have a new tool to help track HOAs. Sperlonga Data and Analytics announced Wednesday the creation of ""the industry's only broad database of the nations HOAs"" to help lenders and services meet the July 1st Fannie Mae requirement.