Group Urges HUD To Improve Data

The Department of Housing and Urban Development should act immediately to improve procedures for monitoring and disseminating market-sensitive data on FHA and Ginnie Mae loan and securitization programs, The Bond Market Association has urged.In a letter to HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, the trade group said "widespread and timely access" to information on the statutory commitment authority of the agencies is "essential to maintaining the liquidity of an active future delivery market into which mortgage originators may sell current mortgage production." The lack of such information has caused several disruptions in the market, the association said, and it offered to help the agencies develop and carry out better monitoring procedures and to disseminate data via its own website and mailing lists. As examples of such market dislocations earlier this year, the group cited the delayed and uneven distribution of information on the possible exhaustion of the Federal Housing Administration's guarantee authority for adjustable-rate mortgages and of Ginnie Mae's loan commitment authority. "These two incidents point out the need to be cognizant of the interaction between the primary and secondary mortgage markets," said George Miller, the association's vice president and deputy general counsel. "...If the secondary market is inefficient, or if market participants don't receive adequate or sufficiently timely information, the primary market could ultimately see a decrease in capital and an increase in costs." The group's website address is http://www.bondmarkets.com.