FHFA

While housing costs were still up nationwide, Pacific states saw the most rapid pace of moderation on an annual basis, a Federal Housing Finance Agency study found.

Although the Federal Housing Finance Agency did move ahead with a controversial upfront charge aimed at covering commingled securities risk, it also committed to exploring alternatives that would address concerns from trade groups.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is moving forward with the charge but also pledged to ensure it doesn’t undermine the uniform security’s advantages the way trade groups say it could.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency also noted limits to its authority in efforts to free the government-sponsored enterprises from conservatorship in its report to Congress.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will need to submit annual capital plans to the agency. The move follows the introduction of new public disclosure requirements through a separate action last week.

Talk'uments already enables English and Spanish speakers to understand their documents and will soon add Vietnamese, Korean and Tagalog.

The system may be good for the banks that own it, but it is not meeting its public mission.

The government-sponsored enterprises will start releasing information similar to what large banks already do, starting in the first quarter of 2023.

Calls for “reform” in times of high liquidity ignore the scalability of the system, and the need to have it around in times of trouble.

Moving towards bank-like capital standards for all independent mortgage banks that sell loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could limit consumer access to mortgage credit, writes Community Home Lenders Association executive director Scott Olson.