After years of trying (but not trying too hard), Alltel finally sold its mortgage/financial servicesunit this past week. Fidelity National paid a little more than $1 billion for the technology division. Atleast four firms looked at the unit over the past few months, sources say. One source said Fannie Mae "wasnosing around the deal." But a Fannie Mae spokesman said to the best of his knowledge the secondary marketgiant was not a suitor. "We may've been asking some questions because so many of our customers are on thesystem, but we weren't a bidder," said a Fannie Mae spokesman...
How long will the mortgage boom continue? In a recent interview with National Mortgage News, Countrywidechief Angelo Mozilo said, "It doesn't have to end," that is, unless "we get a realspike in interest rates"
It was less than a pretty week for Fannie's chief competitor Freddie Mac. Even though it announced recordearnings, its stock got hit, and several analysts -- who were less then pleased with the news that it would berestating earnings -- downgraded the company. The new week should be an interesting one for both GSEs. On Tuesday,the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight will release its study on the issue of Fannie, Freddieand "systemic risk." Also anticipated is an OFHEO/Treasury Department/SEC study on the two's MBS disclosures...
Meanwhile, Fannie/Freddie nemesis FM Watch took a pot shot at the GSE's regulator saying in a letterto Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan that the agency, in the words of FM Watch director MikeHouse, "isn't up to the job" of overseeing the two. Mr. House also called OFHEO's capital rules "flawed."OFHEO spokeswoman Stefanie Mullin said the group has "no credibility." FM Watch hasn't added anynew individual company members in quite some time. A Freddie Mac official told us that FM Watch's press missivesare so ridiculous, "that every time I hear them I laugh." All this bickering aside, keep in mind thisone central question: with the U.S. economy weak, a war imminent, and housing/mortgages the only game in the economy,would the executive branch or Congress dare mess with the two? Answer: No, but that doesn't mean scores of lawyers,lobbyists and "consultants" can't continue to milk the anti-GSE cow until, well, the cows come home...
One-year, Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 3.89% for the week ending Jan. 31
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The Georgia Fair Lending Law (GFLA) has struck again. Moody's Investors Servicesaid it will disallow certain types of home mortgages affected by the law (read: subprime) to be placed in securitiesit rates. Georgia legislators are working on a fix to alleviate concerns expressed by S&P, and now, Moody's.(See National Mortgage News issue of Feb. 3 for more details.)
MARK THAT DATE: In March, OFHEO will host a conference on home values and how housing has helped bolstera struggling U.S. economy. Speakers will include St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank president William Poole(who has raised concerns about the size of the GSEs); Housing and Urban Development secretary Mel Martinez;senior White House economic advisor Glenn Hubbard, and others...
