GSEs

Hedge accounting will align Fannie’s reporting with competitor Freddie Mac, and will address a mismatch between the recorded value of financial instruments used to offset interest-rate volatility on mortgages and the loans themselves.

Only $89 billion of the $362 billion in new single-family volume came from purchase mortgages.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has moved ahead with an earlier proposal to postpone the full adoption of the qualified-mortgage ability-to-repay rule, citing a need to maximize borrowers' credit access.

It would be available to homeowners making 80% or less of their area’s median income who weren't eligible to tap into low rates last year.

System updates, which may be a result of changes to the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements, have Community Home Lenders Association members saying loans that were approved previously are getting rejected when put back through.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s new limits on loans secured by investor properties and second homes may put pressure on applicants to misrepresent their occupancy status.

Long-term home-based operations are more likely than they were prior in March of last year, but some origination and servicing professionals will return to the office, a recent survey suggests.

The government sponsored enterprise’s latest forecast calls for a nearly $4 trillion year for 2021.

The diverse group of loans in the servicing rights portfolio offers a potentially attractive recapture opportunity and would be a sizable transaction for their era.

The development bodes well for outcomes on distressed loans backed by major government-related mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The FHFA’s forbearance extension to September is forcing nonbank servicers to buy out more delinquent loans. It's also upended loss estimates for investors and made racial and income disparities in the mortgage market worse.

Also: How 9.3 million renters could enter the purchase market, lessons from Flagstar’s data breach and a possible 15-year plan for Fannie and Freddie.

Relying on retained earnings alone, it would be until at least 2036, if not longer, before government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae might end.

New assistance for renters may help but past efforts, while necessary, failed to get relief to renters in an expedient way, said David Brickman, who is now the head of a new agency lending platform backed by Barings and Meridian Capital.

The announcement signals an openness to creating something many GOP lawmakers have long resisted: a federal guarantee of the trillions of dollars of mortgage bonds that Fannie and Freddie issue, a rep for P.A. senator said.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is preparing to retire certain loan underwriting flexibilities after extending them one additional month to April 30.

The government-sponsored enterprise announced Wednesday it will change eligibility criteria for vacation homes and investor properties starting April 1 to fulfill a directive by former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

In its final days, the Trump administration imposed limits on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s holdings of mortgages with loan-to-value ratios above 90% and certain other characteristics. Critics say the changes were unnecessary and disproportionately penalize borrowers of color.

Consumers may want to strike while the iron’s hot and apply for loans now, before rates get much higher.

As one of the few mortgage firms that finances singlewides, AFR’s decision to offer the product will lend momentum to major government-sponsored loan buyers’ efforts to expand their manufactured housing programs.