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The Senate GSE reform bill may bloat the bureaucracy, encourage risky behavior and expose taxpayers to losses, without sufficient support for affordable housing. That could still be better than nothing.

A powerful group of shareholders is amplifying attacks on housing finance reform legislation as they await resolution of a major legal battle, attempting to slow momentum on the bill before it likely passes the Senate Banking Committee.

Mortgage bondholders have long complained to regulators that the national mortgage settlement gave large bank servicers credit for principal reductions and loan modifications they did not pay for themselves.

The recent housing recovery has been the saving grace for some 2005-2007 subprime mortgage bonds, but in others, delays in getting distressed properties to market have offset home price gains.

As drafted, the Johnson-Crapo bill would allow big banks to originate, aggregate, and guarantee mortgages. Small lenders worry such vertically integrated companies could price them out of the business.

The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to vote on its bill to overhaul the mortgage finance market on April 29, but questions are now being raised about whether that date will slip, as supporters struggle to secure additional votes.

Colony American Homes has completed a securitization transaction backed by income generated from almost 3,400 single-family rental homes.

Jose Gonzalez, the first Hispanic president of a Federal Home Loan Bank, envisions eventually allowing new categories of lenders like REITs to join the system, but wants membership to stay as it is for now.

Freddie Mac will soon add another automated review on the appraisal reports it receives through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal.

Bank of America Corp.'s Countrywide unit and insurer Allstate Corp. settled a 2010 lawsuit over $700 million in devalued mortgage-backed securities.