GSEs

More than 300,000 South Floridians who lost their homes during the housing bust could be eligible to own again over the next eight years.

The business of bundling riskier U.S. mortgages into bonds without government backing is gearing up for a comeback. Just don't call it subprime.

At a hearing Tuesday, GOP lawmakers hammered FHFA Director Mel Watt for four hours over his recent decisions to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy loans with lower downpayments and provide money to two affordable housing trust funds.

With conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac well into its seventh year, the government has now had control of the housing agencies longer than 47 members of the Senate have been office.

Homeowners associations seeking unpaid dues are seizing on a court decision allowing them to foreclose on properties ahead of banks, and the FHFA is litigating to defend Fannie and Freddie mortgages. Private lenders, meanwhile, are trying to keep the problem from spreading to more states.

Purchases of new homes jumped in December to the highest level in more than six years, a sign the industry is poised to keep expanding in 2015.

CoreLogic Inc., the property-data firm spun off from First American Financial Corp., hired Frank Nothaft from Freddie Mac as its chief economist.

Over 50% of mortgage lenders said they plan to increase their marketing towards first-time homebuyers in 2015 to take advantage of changes in conforming and government lending programs.

Early signs point to a wave of Federal Housing Administration borrowers trying to tap into lower prices for mortgage backing.

Freddie Mac is selling $410 million of deeply delinquent U.S. home loans in its second sale of the debt.

A new forecast from Freddie Mac suggests that mortgage rates will remain stable for the first two quarters of 2015.

Purchases of previously owned homes rose less than forecast in December as higher prices limited sales to first-time buyers.

The traditional method of measuring mortgage denials is fundamentally flawed. But by evaluating not just the quantity, but also the quality of mortgage applicants, the denial rate picture becomes more clear.

Top housing economists don’t think an Oil Patch slowdown will result in a weaker national housing market.

Mortgage rates declined for the third straight week, with lenders on average offering 3.63 percent on a 30-year fixed loan, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

Mortgage rates near record lows, an improving job market and gradually easing credit standards will converge to make it the best year for home construction since 2007, say economists.

Home prices rose more than economists estimated in November, a sign job growth is helping to boost housing demand.

The pension fund sector owns hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgage securities. But MBS holdings are such a small percentage of their portfolios, pensions may not be aware of their heft in the industry.

Julian Castro, secretary of housing and urban development, said 2015 will be a year of "housing opportunity" as the economy continues its rebound.

Yields on government-backed mortgage securities that guide U.S. home-loan rates widened to the most relative to Treasuries in almost three months as refinancing soars amid lower borrowing costs.