Freddie Mac

Mortgage rates rose slightly with a stronger-than-expected jobs report starting the week and the Federal Open Market Committee decision to hold the line on short-term rates ending it, according to Freddie Mac.

The prequalification letter is a great way to move borrowers from casual tire kickers to committed applicants, but advances in digital verification will soon make it obsolete.

Most commercial and multifamily loan delinquency rates remained near record lows in the third quarter extending a long run of declines in the securitized market, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Mortgage rates remained unchanged this week, after moving back and forth during the period on economic and trade news, according to Freddie Mac.

The outperformance of mortgage-backed securities versus U.S. Treasuries has extended for a third straight month into November, buoyed in part by a decline in volatility.

Loan limits for most mortgages Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy will exceed $500,000 for the first time ever next year, and the maximum for most high-cost areas will be $765,000.

Mortgage rates resumed their upward movement this week, but it's not putting a damper on real estate sales activity, noted Freddie Mac.

For the private-label mortgage-backed securities market to grow, regulators need to focus on collateral management in addition to changes to data disclosure rules.

The former head of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight explains why he thinks the mortgage industry is closer than ever to having a truly paperless process, and weighs in on GSE reform.

Mortgage rates fell this week, reversing a gradual upward trend, to reach their lowest level in six weeks, according to Freddie Mac.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has extended its deadline for investor comments on a proposal aimed at better aligning pooling practices for loans in uniform mortgage-backed securities.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is scrapping a capital proposal it released last year and will seek comments on a new plan in 2020.

There's been chatter that investors are shying away from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities because Congress may not enact housing finance reform. Be skeptical of those claims.

Lenders have bundled more than $18 billion worth of non-QM, private-label loans into bonds this year that they then sold to investors, a 44% increase from 2018 and the most for any year since the securities became common post-crisis.

The Federal Housing Financial Agency's latest report on credit risk transfers shows Fannie Mae continues to slowly improve a multifamily mortgage risk-sharing metric that lags Freddie Mac's by a wide margin.

Mortgage rates rose modestly this week as investors have a more positive view of the economy and so they are moving money out of the bond market, according to Freddie Mac.

And the government-sponsored enterprises could hold initial public offerings in 2021 or 2022 to ensure they hold adequate capital, FHFA Director Mark Calabria said.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s exemption from the Qualified Mortgage rule is on borrowed time, but a House bill would allow lenders to use the mortgage giants’ guidelines for documenting borrower income.

Rick Lang of Freddie Mac, Tim Mayopoulos of Blend and Tamra Rieger of Evergreen Home Loans discuss the key objectives – from customer experience to system integrations – that mortgage companies are pursuing through digitalization.

Mortgage rates fell for the first time in four weeks, although given investor optimism over better economic news, it might be a blip, according to Freddie Mac.