Capital markets

The new leader, who officially joined the government mortgage-bond insurer on Jan. 3, is the first Senate-confirmed holder of the post in close to five years.

Mortgage performance in November was improving, coming close to crossing a key threshold for pandemic-era recovery, but Omicron raises questions about whether that trend will continue.

Average per-loan charges last year were little changed despite the addition of a new temporary fee for refinancing. Those for loan-to-value ratios above 80%, home-purchase financing and adjustable-rate mortgages only rose slightly.

The government-sponsored enterprise has 45 days to submit a plan on how it intends to meet the increased target for 2022 through 2024.

Under the Federal Housing Finance Agency rule, the GSEs would need to lay out how levels will change under a variety of stress tests, including required ratios separately proposed for amendment.

Since the pandemic began, there have been fewer active managers buying the less liquid types of securitized debt, creating big opportunities for bargain hunting in securities like mortgage bonds and collateralized loan obligations, hedge fund Ellington Management Group says in a new report.

Bigger loans make mortgage bonds riskier for investors. When homeowners have larger loans, they become more likely to refinance even with relatively small declines in interest rates.

New securitizations of mortgages on energy-efficient rental housing totalled $12.7 billion during the first 11 months of this year, suggesting 2021’s total will come close to matching 2020’s $13 billion.

The findings in a new TransUnion study could lend momentum to recent efforts by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to encourage the reporting and use of rental-payment information in lending.

Bain Capital and American Family Ventures were among the investors in this funding round for the company, which has more than doubled its staff in the past 12 months.