GSE reform

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has extended its deadline for investor comments on a proposal aimed at better aligning pooling practices for loans in uniform mortgage-backed securities.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is scrapping a capital proposal it released last year and will seek comments on a new plan in 2020.

And the government-sponsored enterprises could hold initial public offerings in 2021 or 2022 to ensure they hold adequate capital, FHFA Director Mark Calabria said.

The two newest private mortgage insurance companies had their best quarters ever for new insurance written, aided by the increase in consumers refinancing with less than 20% home equity.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking comment on a proposal that could pave the way for potential Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac competitors to use the uniform mortgage-backed security structure.

Recent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac activities are “not the kind of day-to-day behavior that you would expect from companies” under federal control, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention rolled through Austin, Texas, this year, leaving behind important announcements and implications for the future of the mortgage industry.

When it comes to possible new competitors in the secondary market, the heads of the two current outlets more than welcomed the possibility of additional players in their space because of housing finance reform.

The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac discussed steps the companies have already taken to limit their risk, as well as efforts to prevent housing market “overlap” with the FHA.

At a House hearing covering a whole host of housing finance reform topics, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's regulator said "if the circumstances" call for eliminating investors, "we will."

Allowing the mortgage giants to retain profits resolves a short-term capital shortfall, but how much capital they would need after exiting conservatorship is still the bigger question.

The Trump administration's thinking on housing is filled with conflicts and contradictions, a quilt work of at times irrational proposals that seem to be at odds with the real world of mortgage finance.

The move to alter the government's preferred stock purchase agreements is the first major one under FHFA Director Mark Calabria's tenure to wind down the conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises.

While no one is suggesting that the plan will help banks regain the share they've ceded to nonbanks, bankers believe that stabilizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could at least help them keep what they have.

The recapitalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac prior to the 2020 election is unlikely even if the net worth sweep ends, according to a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods report.

The FHFA can go beyond a recent Trump administration report to level the playing field between the private sector and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Whether Congress and/or the mortgage industry is able to untangle two opposing threads in the Trump administration's plans is anyone's guess.

The regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suggested that a finalized capital framework for the two mortgage giants could be published by the end of the year.

Federal appeals court judges in New Orleans on Friday appeared to back claims by investors that Treasury's "net worth sweep" is illegal.

Senate Banking Committee members feel urgency to pass a bill dealing with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but the same obstacles that have stalled congressional action for years remain.