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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have set terms for letting borrowers put down as little as 3% of a home's cost to get mortgages, a step criticized by Republican lawmakers as a return to risky lending.

Officials at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae all heaped praise on nonbank mortgage lenders for stepping up to provide loans for home purchases at a time when many banks have scaled back.

Starwood Waypoint Priced its first securitization of single-family rental property, a $505 million deal backed by some of the oldest homes in this emerging asset class.

Investors should buy Assured Guaranty shares on the prospect that the bond insurer acquires a unit from mortgage guarantor Radian Group, analysts from Macquarie Group said.

Six years after a global financial crisis exacerbated by the lack of transparency in the market for U.S. mortgage debt, regulators are planning only a small step toward offering the public more information on trading.

Profits from originating mortgages dipped during the third quarter, with independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of banks reporting an average gain of $897, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Principal reductions for underwater borrowers would cost approximately $89 billion, according to Black Knight.

Mortgage rates for 30-year loans fell for a fourth week, reducing borrowing costs to the lowest level in a year and a half.

In the nascent bond market where U.S. government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have insured themselves against losses on $383 billion of home loans, strains are starting to emerge.

The Federal Housing Finance Administration has advised private mortgage insurers that it will delay the release of revised capital standards.