Secondary

Citigroup repurchased 6,800 residential loans in 2011, an 80% jump from 2010 with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accounting for the lion's share of those buybacks, according to figures released Tuesday.

Among the ramifications of paying for the tax cut extension by hiking agency guarantee fees in April could be upward pressure on consumer rates and an improvement in mortgage-backed securities prepayments.

Some banks might be skittish about selling nonperforming loans in bulk, but the market clearly likes it when banks shed problems en masse.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners' capital designation prices for year-end 2011 show a modest average decline that should have a limited but nuanced effect on the securitized non-agency market, a Barclays report suggests.

Radian Guaranty has received waivers of the risk-to-capital ratio in four states of the 16 states it applied to, and has been rejected by two, the company said.

Fannie Mae is forecasting an additional $200-$300 billion in refinancings this year from the HARP program, but that won't be enough to offset what should be a tepid $1 trillion year in originations.

Who says retail lending is more expensive than wholesale production? Well, actually, JPMorgan Chase does. In its new earnings statement JPM notes that it spent an additional $82 million in 4Q (compared to 3Q) due to higher residential production costs: increased retail expenses and "enhanced" loan underwriting. JPM has been out of wholesale for two years now.

Goldman Sachs this week asked a federal court in Los Angeles to dismiss a billion-dollar private label MBS related lawsuit brought against the firm by the National Credit Union Administration.

Although insurance conglomerate MetLife failed to unload its residential mortgage banking business, it is moving forward with a plan to sell its profitable warehouse lending division, according to industry officials briefed on the matter.

Freddie Mac Thursday said it plans to issue a Mortgage-Linked Amortizing Notes security.