Housing finance reform

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said they believed an agreement on housing finance reform could be struck in this Congress.

The Mortgage Bankers Association released a detailed transition plan Thursday designed to help policymakers turn the government-sponsored enterprises into private guarantors of mortgage-backed securities.

Suspending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's regular dividend payments to the Treasury, thus enabling the companies to replenish their reserve capital, would put their future on better footing.

The groups and industry trade associations want the Treasury Department and the FHFA to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to build up capital reserves.

Implementation of the second phase of the common securitization platform had been projected for next year, but the anticipated time frame was delayed following "lessons learned" from the first phase.

Though it's too early to have a concrete plan regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the administration is creating a set of principles that it hopes to release in a few months.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary-designate Ben Carson is open to finding alternatives to the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, but believes there must be some government backstop to the housing market.