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The recent drop in interest rates has opened the door for lenders to refinance borrowers with high-cost Federal Housing Administration loans into conventional Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.

While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wait for Congress to decide when and how to act on housing industry legislation, the government-sponsored enterprises are working with their regulator on "nonlegislative GSE reform" that will better prepare them to implement new laws.

The risk retention rule unveiled Tuesday was hailed by the industry for its definition of a "qualified residential mortgage," but analysts say a comeback for private-label securitization still faces huge obstacles.

But the payoff for the agency is that it increases the availability of credit for consumers.

The GSE regulator's second attempt to stimulate the mortgage market is receiving a lukewarm reception from lenders, who remain gun-shy after being forced by Fannie and Freddie to repurchase billions of dollars in soured loans since 2008.

Government officials increasingly encourage looser credit benefiting low- to moderate-income borrowers, but some lenders who make these loans said it's easier said than done. Here's why.

Ginnie Mae on Monday released updated net worth and liquidity requirements for issuers of mortgage-backed securities.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is close to issuing refinements to the government-sponsored enterprises' representation-and-warranty framework that will limit lender liability on buybacks of legacy loans.

Lenders that use Collateral Underwriter may be eligible for Rep & Warrant relief on appraisal in the future.

Life insurance companies' returns from commercial mortgages in this year's second quarter fell slightly to 2.23%, according to the LifeComps Commercial Mortgage Loan Index.