Beginning on June 3, 2019, the GSEs will begin issuing a new common security known as the Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security (UMBS). The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced the change on Wednesday, revealing that the common securities will replace the Enterprises’ ...
Read More »HARP Loans Continue Outperforming Pre-Crisis Mortgages
According to a new report by Moody’s Investor Service, Freddie Mac loans refinanced under the Home Affordable Refinance Program will continue to outperform pre-crisis Freddie loans that did not enter the program, but will also continue to lag behind post-crisis ...
Read More »FHFA Examines the Appraisals Process
The FHFA has released a new paper, authored by Jessica Shui and Shriya Murthy, that examines how appraisals conducted by appraisal management companies compare to those conducted by lenders themselves. What’s the verdict? According to the FHFA paper, “the results indicate ...
Read More »FHFA: Fannie, Freddie Foreclosure Preventions Top 4M in Q4
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) rolled out its fourth-quarter Foreclosure Prevention Report, which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac zipped up 67,569 foreclosure prevention actions in the fourth quarter of 2017. Across the board, that brings the number ...
Read More »Collaborating for a Sustainable Housing Industry
It’s been a decade since the housing crisis of 2008. As the present administration looks at rolling back some of the more stringent regulations that were introduced during that time to protect homes and homeowners, the regulatory framework is also ...
Read More »HUD Addresses Concerns About Reverse Mortgage Foreclosures
Reverse mortgages have become a popular—and sometimes controversial—way for Americans to make use of the accrued equity in their homes, especially for older homeowners. The latest controversy surrounds HUD foreclosures on homes participating in the home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) ...
Read More »Wallison: Treasury Department Wrong on Regulation Approach
Former White House Counsel and Senior Fellow in Financial Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute Peter J. Wallison put in an appearance Thursday on CNBC’s The Santelli Exchange, where he criticized the U.S. Treasury Department’s recent approach to regulation ...
Read More »Supreme Court Rejects Appeal in GSE Profits Case
This week the United States Supreme Court rejected appeals in a case challenging the federal government’s handling of profits generated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since they came under government control during the 2008 financial crisis. On Tuesday, the ...
Read More »FHFA Report: GSEs’ Total Foreclosure Prevention Actions Cross 4M
The GSEs (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) completed 22,411 foreclosure prevention actions in November, bringing the total to 4,013,134 since the start of the conservatorships in September 2008, according to the Foreclosure Prevention Report released by the Federal Housing Finance ...
Read More »A Bump in Rates and Loan Sizes
Interest rates and loan sizes both got a boost in December. With 2017 topped off this rise, could 2018 bring more increases like this?
Read More »