Secondary markets

Mortgage bankers are sounding alarms that the Federal Reserve's emergency purchases of bonds tied to home loans are unintentionally putting their industry at risk by triggering a flood of margin calls on hedges lenders have entered into to protect themselves from losses.

Independent mortgage bankers had their most profitable fourth quarter in seven years for originations, but the fallout from the coronavirus could upset the economics of the industry in the short term.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency authorized the government-sponsored enterprises to lend additional support to the mortgage-backed securities market and temporarily allow some flexibility in lending requirements to address coronavirus-related concerns.

Additional mortgage-backed securities purchases by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will address private investor skittishness about the asset class, but it will not necessarily lower rates.

It has all the trappings of a routine mortgage refinance closing. The mortgage broker, the lawyer and the homeowner, all signing off on the paperwork that will cut the interest rate on a home.

Canadian policymakers are escalating their efforts to backstop the nation’s financial system and ensure banks have plenty of room to continue lending through the coronavirus crisis.

Maxex, a company that acts as a private exchange for residential mortgage sales, is seeing a pickup in business as sellers seek additional outlets for their nonagency loans.

Not so long after Treasury bond yields experienced an unprecedented drop, the average 30-year mortgage rate rose, reflecting volatility related to the coronavirus as well as capacity issues on multiple levels.

With the return of volume and profitability to mortgage lending, it is no surprise that commercial banks are coming back to the market.

Terry Wakefield, a technology consultant who helped launch Fannie Mae's mortgage-backed securities business and form Prudential Home Mortgage, has died. He was 70.

Ginnie Mae in 2020 is going to seriously examine what it would take to respond to a longstanding, priority request of its issuers.

Freddie Mac elevated Corley to executive vice president and head of its single-family business, putting her permanently in the role she occupied since last October.

Whether a deal involves a minority stake or a whole company carve-out, buyers and sellers should be aware of five issues that may pose transaction risk in the mortgage market.

To paint nonbanks as a source of systemic risk, particularly given the track record of commercial banks in causing the 2008 subprime mortgage fiasco, seems absurd.

A 10-basis-point year-over-year increase in gross margin on loans sold, along with a nearly 30% increase in origination volume, helped Waterstone Mortgage turn around its fourth-quarter results.

The mortgage securitization market can expect some changes, particularly in the specified pool and to-be-announced markets, alongside a continuation of trends in other areas.

The number of large-scale natural disasters continued to proliferate in 2019, creating new situations where local mortgage delinquency rates could stay inflated for the following 12 months, according to CoreLogic.

Provident Bank in Amesbury, Mass., has entered warehouse lending after buying a business from People’s United Financial in Bridgeport, Conn.

Trade associations representing mortgage lenders and securities market participants are asking the Federal Housing Finance Agency to rethink a plan to restrict pooling options for loans sold into uniform mortgage-backed securities.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is considering bringing back the idea of imposing stricter criteria for purchasing mortgages in areas where residential Property Assessed Clean Energy financing is available.