Secondary

Surprises in the latest prepayment numbers include a notable surge in loans eligible for the Home Affordable Refinance Program.

The GOP leadership has not doled out committee leadership assignments yet, but observers said they expect outspoken free market conservative Rep. Jeb Hensarling to lead the House Financial Services Committee next year.

At least three firms bid on MetLife's $70 billion portfolio of mortgage servicing rights.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati purchased $1.9 billion of single-family loans from banks and thrifts during the first nine months of 2012, a 46% increase from the same period a year ago.

Freddie Mac's third-quarter results suggest that the mortgage giant is living off the refi boom: in 3Q its secondary market acquisitions supported home purchases of 1.4 million units, but 5.6 million of refinancings.

Late-stage delinquencies total an additional two million properties and 3.6 million more units are at "immediate serious risk."

The Federal Housing Finance Agency recognizes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac likely will be around for a few more years—and the only way to reduce their dominance is to raise guarantee fees while providing a secondary market execution for private securitizations.

MetLife has been quietly trying to sell its servicing rights for nine months now.

Some potential investors wanted to pay cash for the REO pools and take title to the properties right away but FHFA nixed the idea.

It appears that the government-owned Ally Financial likes mortgage brokers after all, trusting them in the jumbo space.