GSEs

The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled with Thomas Lund, the former head of Fannie Mae's single-family lending unit, for $10,000, according to news reports.

While Congress has been unable to pass housing finance reform, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have done a good job of adhering to some of the spirit of recent bipartisan legislation, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

Total multifamily mortgage debt outstanding rose 2.4% to $1 trillion at the end of the second quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Home prices increased more than estimated in July as the job market improved and buyers competed for a tight supply of properties.

Despite pledges last year to move “aggressively” to implement new credit scoring models at the government-sponsored enterprises, the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s effort appears to have stalled.

The half a percentage point reduction in the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance premium provided a bigger pop to the housing market than expected, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.