Compliance & Regulation

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is giving private mortgage insurers some hope this holiday season that they might get a chance to offer deeper mortgage insurance on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family loans.

While marketing services agreements dominated the conversation around compliance in the latter half of 2015, loan officer compensation will be under more scrutiny during 2016.

Some mortgage investors are refusing to buy home loans that are at risk of violations of new consumer-disclosure rules. The problem appears to be worst among nonagency jumbo loans purchased by private investors.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has lowered the asset-size threshold to qualify for escrow exemptions for higher-priced mortgage loans.

Rising rates could slow the runoff from refinancings and add stickier purchase loans to servicers' portfolios. That's the good news.

President Obama is expected to sign a bill passed by both the House and Senate that grants extensions on a number of tax benefits enjoyed by individuals and corporations, including a number of temporary provisions that the real estate industry sought.

Multifamily properties are getting pricy and new construction is putting upward pressure on vacancy rates, worrying banking regulators.

Sen. Bob Corker championed a provision he added to the budget bill that would temporarily prevent the Treasury Department from recapitalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and discussed other banking priorities in a sitdown interview.

Fannie Mae's final risk-sharing transaction of the year was with reinsurers.

All servicers that are part of the national mortgage settlement — except Ocwen Financial — passed metrics testing in the first half of the year, according to the settlement's monitor.