Tag Archives: Freddie Mac

According to an analysis authored by a former chief economist of Freddie Mac and a real estate economics professor at University of Aberdeen, responsibility for the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac falls directly on regulators and indirectly on their political overseers. The two analysts argue that the U.S. government's involvement in housing finance nurtured the excessively risky loans that fueled the housing bubble of the last decade and resulted in the systemic collapse of the global financial system.

The nation's second largest mortgage company has again reported a decline in the percentage of loans it holds that are 90 or more days past due and in foreclosure. Freddie Mac says its serious delinquency rate for single-family mortgages dropped to 3.53 percent in May. That's down four basis points from 3.57 percent the month before and down 53 basis points from 4.06 percent in May 2010. May's rate was the lowest it's been since September of 2009.

The debate over what constitutes a Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) is heating up, with a pivotal argument centered around whether or not the proposed QRM stipulations will actually lower the risk of default. In one corner you have the handful of regulators charged with putting the definition of QRM into the rule book, and in the other corner you have just about everybody else, with consumer advocates joining mortgage bankers in a rare showing, and congressional lawmakers standing firmly alongside them.

Freddie Mac said Thursday that mortgage interest rates, while mixed this week, held steady at low levels for the second straight week. The 30-year fixed rate matched last week's 4.50 percent average, while the 15-year rate edged up to 3.69 percent.

Servicers have been ordered to institute a clear resolution process for consumer complaints. Accountability when it comes to dealing with distressed borrowers has become a central focus of mortgage servicing reform, but an audit conducted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency's inspector general found that the GSEs' regulator is itself lacking in this area. The report says the agency has let complaints alleging fraud, abuse, and improper foreclosures slip through the cracks with no oversight of their resolution. FHFA says it will take actions to remedy the issue.

Oklahoma-based a la mode announced this week that a second major technology provider has selected the company's Mercury Network to ensure compliance with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's Uniform Mortgage Data Program (UMDP). Lender Processing Services' LSI division is the latest to sign on to a la mode's system. Last week, the company said CoreLogic has also chosen its Mercury Network for appraisal management that meets the GSEs' requirements.

Home prices in the U.S. rose in April for the first time since last spring, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported Wednesday. The agency's House Price Index recorded a 0.8 percent seasonally adjusted increase between March and April - the first month-over-month gain since May 2010. The index is calculated using purchase prices of houses backing mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Oklahoma-based a la mode announced this week that CoreLogic chose to connect its ValuEdge platform with Mercury Network for receipt of the Native XML appraisal data needed for compliance with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's jointly established Uniform Mortgage Data Program (UMDP). A custom plugin will connect CoreLogic with the Mercury Network of real estate appraisers. The plugin will run an extensive set of quality control rules against the report prior to delivery.

Freddie Mac released its weekly survey of mortgage interest rates Thursday, which showed that the 30-year rate edged up 1 basis point while the 15-year rate dropped 1 basis point. The GSE's measurements for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) - which have been gaining popularity among some borrowers - mirrored the same, with rates on the 5-year ARM slipping and the 1-year ARM rising slightly.

According to Freddie Mac's latest market outlook, over the first four months of 2011, sales of existing homes are up 5 percent from the pace of 2010 - in line with the GSE's earlier projections of a 5 percent annual increase in existing-home sales this year. Regardless, Freddie's economists say going forward, their forecast for sales growth remains dampened by declining consumer confidence and economic uncertainty. They point out that news of still-falling home prices has potential homebuyers waiting for a clear signal that home values have firmed.