Secondary

Freddie Mac purchased $50 billion of home mortgages from its seller/servicers in October, the highest reading since June of 2009, according to new figures released by the government-controlled secondary market giant.

The qualified mortgage test and risk retention rules will cement Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s dominance in the secondary market, according to FBR Capital Markets.

The privately held Vericrest is serious about expanding its client base in the servicing arena.

It’s not every day that the HUD secretary calls a flesh-and-blood press conference for mortgage reporters, handing out paper instead of electronic files and then issuing a strict edict on a noon embargo. Then again, it’s not every day that the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance fund goes into the red by $16.3 billion.

In September and August, issuance of Government National Mortgage Association MBS topped $39 billion each month.

According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News, UBS was one of the largest underwriters of nonprime MBS during the housing boom.

Held in Atlantic City Oct. 9 and 10, the meeting was sponsored by three groups: the New Jersey Association of Mortgage Brokers; the Pennsylvania Association of Mortgage Brokers and the Maryland Association of Mortgage Brokers.

UBS is set to argue that the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan should overturn a lower-court ruling allowing the Federal Housing Finance Agency to pursue its lawsuit over losses on $6.4 billion in mortgage bonds.

Recriminations about what caused the greatest mortgage meltdown in U.S. history continue to play out in various ways.

The committee has yet to issue a formal agenda for the next Congress, but a spokesman said that oversight of the Dodd-Frank law and other issues like mortgage finance reform will probably top the agenda, much like last year.