Capital markets

The first Senate-confirmed woman to serve as president of the agency wants to involve a wide range of borrowers and mortgage companies in its efforts.

Also named the chairman of Home Point, the onetime single-family EVP’s latest appointment is his third in the past two years.

As independent mortgage bankers feel a liquidity pinch, portfolio sales such as the one being brokered by Mortgage Industry Advisory Corp. are likely to increase.

Last year’s issuance of securitizations for these non-conforming mortgages was the most since 2007.

Minus the adjustment made to account for stock price declines and goodwill, the company’s countercyclical mix of loan products was profitable, but secondary-market volatility presents a challenge ahead.

A nearly $1.9 billion commercial mortgage bond linked to a portfolio of office buildings owned by Columbia Property Trust Inc. and Allianz SE was delayed on Wednesday due to market weakness, according to two bond investors.

The transaction highlights the importance of giving the government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie access to a range of risk-sharing alternatives at a time when market volatility reportedly delayed another type of deal.

Optimal Blue researchers found correlations of 75% or more when looking at numbers of different loan-size cohorts, but the percentages came in lower when state data was analyzed.

The record amount is largely a reflection of the two banner years the mortgage market recently enjoyed, but it’s also one of the smallest gains seen in recent years.

Fannie Mae delayed a scheduled residential mortgage bond on Thursday due to market volatility spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The move confirms speculation that the Federal Housing Finance Agency would return to a pre-pandemic plan to tighten requirements for mortgage lenders and servicers that work with two government-sponsored enterprises.

Raising rates and running down the balance sheet “will bring down inflation over time," she said.

The 2022 origination outlook was dropped by $172 billion and for 2023, economists at the government-sponsored enterprise made a $226 billion reduction.

Despite a slowing in the private-label securitization market in January, lenders and investors are expecting a strong year for outside-the-box originations and their secondary market sales.

The portfolio is one of several particularly large, recent deals related to the cash-flows from mortgage payments, but it has an unusual composition.

"The quality of our new business is high. The pricing of that business does not reflect the capital requirements of our regulatory rule," CEO Hugh Frater said.

However, leadership noted that 2021 was the second record year for new single-family mortgages and also discussed how the government sponsored-enterprise plans to further rebuild its capital.

The return of foreclosures could increase enforcement and government-related loan buyers’ return to pre-pandemic plans to increase net worth, liquidity and other standards for counterparties.

The mention echoes previous recommendations to give the Federal Housing Finance Agency more authority over non-depositories that service loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The large volume of servicing rights trades in January and high multiples were a reaction to tightening monetary policy after a period in which many stockpiled the asset.