Fannie Mae

For hedge funds that have been hoping the Trump administration would deliver a windfall on their investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, 2019 could be a make-or-break year.

The White House said that Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting will serve as acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency beginning Jan. 6, after Director Mel Watt’s term ends.

Consumers traditionally pick the lender with the best rate and the lowest payment, but in a competitive marketplace, the customer's digital mortgage experience is often the first tiebreaker.

The Trump administration wants to work with Congress on freeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government control, though it's considering pursuing some changes on its own, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday.

Dividing the transaction into two tranches allowed the GSE to tailor the transaction to the risk appetite of participants, lowering the cost of reinsurance.

Fannie Mae made a slight increase to its origination forecast, expecting housing affordability to improve in 2019 as mortgage rates remain flat and home price appreciation moderates.

Texas Capital Bank, which already provides warehouse financing for e-mortgages, will now purchase these loans off those lines as it looks to increase liquidity for this product.

Mortgage lenders are more pessimistic than ever about the industry's profit margin outlook, with many blaming tight competition for the negative attitudes, according to Fannie Mae.

The White House confirmed that it plans to nominate Mark Calabria as the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charged lenders slightly lower guarantee fees in 2017 for mortgages with riskier characteristics, according to a Federal Housing Finance Agency report.