Capital markets

High interest rates and constrained inventory will take its toll on originations and securitization activity in 2024, the rating agency commented.

Futurewave Finance was started by former FHLBank-Chicago executive Steve Thomas, as part of a personal mission to do more to help underprivileged communities.

The number of sellers it works with in the correspondent channel has grown due to pending capital requirements affecting larger depositories' interest in loans.

Even though it is less than two years since it allowed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept such valuations, it is difficult to evaluate their effectiveness without such examinations.

The company took another net loss but some of its numbers improved as it slashed expenses and prospects improved for distressed loan services.

News of President Chris Marshall's planned departure at year-end 2024 came amid reports of net servicing gains and the start of a capital raise for an MSR fund.

Though home mortgage issuance has slumped in line with originations, new potential bank capital rules and increased consumer debt consolidation could boost activity for these two subsets in the secondary market.

While the company's long-term issuer default rating has slipped a little, affiliates of Blackstone that have a higher one back the reverse mortgage player.

Questions about how it will be implemented and whether the rest of the market will follow the agency's lead make the expense involved difficult to estimate.

While on the positive side, Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar said the loan defect rate has dropped 75%, she and Freddie Mac President Michael Hutchins noted that they're closely examining disruptive servicing transfers and standards for multifamily properties.

While the latest change applies specifically to COVID forbearances, the agency is looking at more options for alternatives that can be offered on a regular basis, Director Sandra Thompson said.

The government-related loan buyer also is looking into whether there are ways to offer options other than buybacks in some instances, said Senior Vice President Sonu Mittal, head of single-family acquisitions.

An analysis of previously released S&P data suggests the Federal Housing Finance Agency's initiative would have mixed impacts on the price of loans and eligibility that vary by individual.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development affiliate is making it easier to repackage securities backed exclusively by these mortgages.

Numbers the Federal Housing Finance Agency just reported for 2022 were the third lowest since the program began, and this year's probably won't be high either.

The shape it takes could have implications for how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac price loans for nonbanks and depositories.

Should the Federal Reserve step back into the market and restart their loan purchase activity?

The share of companies experimenting with artificial intelligence has increased, but full deployment is another matter, a Fannie Mae survey found.

The transaction was scheduled to be completed in the first half of this year, and a "substantial first close" was already announced in February.

Lenders could gain efficiencies from advances in artificial intelligence as the related development of alternative data potentially opens up the market to more borrowers, but hurdles exist.