For the government-sponsored enterprise guaranty rating, Fitch notes that the GSEs as a whole are the primary drivers of this rating’s unconditional guarantee of full and timely payment on the MBS that secures the bonds. Additionally, the performance of the underlying loans or MBS servicer is not factored into the rating on the bonds.
Read More »Outlook for Housing and Economy Remain Positive Despite Q1 GDP Contraction
Despite economic growth taking a step backward, the forecast for housing for the rest of the year remains positive, according to Fannie Mae SVP and chief economist Doug Duncan. New home sales increased by 6.8 percent in April up to 517,000 annualized units; the National Association of Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index has risen by 14 percent in the last 12 months; existing home sales are at a nine-year high; and purchase applications recovered at the end of May from a slow first half of the month up near a two-year high.
Read More »Legislation, Not FHFA’s Administrative Actions, Should Drive Housing Policy, Analyst Says
Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, wrote on the American Action Forum's blog, "The Daily Dish," earlier this week that logic would dictate large reforms to the housing finance system following the crash, yet no such large reform has taken place.
Read More »Mortgage Portfolio Expands for Seventh Time in Last Eight Months for Freddie Mac
Meanwhile, the serious delinquency rate on Freddie Mac-backed single-family mortgage loans, dropped by seven basis points down to 1.66 percent, its lowest level since reporting 1.52 percent in November 2008 just as the crisis was beginning.
Read More »Eighty Percent of Top 100 Metros Seeing Stronger Demand for Homes Heading Into Spring
"In this month's MiMi three more states and seven metro areas moved within range of their benchmark level of activity," Keifer said. "However, as we've mentioned before, we're likely to see bouts of affordability shock with mortgage rate swings for the remainder of this year as market participants try to anticipate Fed timing around rising short term interest rates and expectations for global growth wax and wane."
Read More »Freddie Mac Prices Fourth Structured Credit-Risk Offering of 2015
The STACR offering priced on Tuesday is the GSE’s fourth this year and 13th overall. Freddie Mac began the STACR program in the second half of 2013 as part of the Enterprise’s goal of reducing risk to taxpayers by increasing private capital’s role in the mortgage market.
Read More »Freddie Mac Sells Third Non-Performing Loan Bundle of 2015
The deeply delinquent status of the loans, which are three years delinquent on average, indicates that the borrowers have already been evaluated for or are in some stage of loss mitigation, or are in some stage of foreclosure. Twenty-nine percent of the loans in the pool were loans that were modified that later became delinquent.
Read More »FSOC Recommends GSEs Continue Spreading Mortgage Credit Risk Across Private Market
In its annual report released earlier this week, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) recommended that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) continue to encourage Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to spread mortgage credit risk across the private market.
Read More »FHFA Announces New Eligibility Standards for Sellers, Servicers to Work With GSEs
The new requirements are expected to allow the GSEs to operate smoothly by providing greater transparency, clarity and consistency to industry participants and other stakeholders, and reflect feedback received over the past several months.
Read More »Freddie Mac Predicts Interest Rate Volatility As Capital Markets Try to Anticipate Fed’s Timing
“For the remainder of this year, we're likely to continue to see these mortgage rate swings as market participants try to anticipate Fed timing around rising short term interest rates,” said Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac. “Unfortunately, perspective homebuyers may experience bouts of affordability shock in many housing markets."
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