Secondary markets

The mortgage industry is welcoming the Obama administration's possibly final word on housing finance reform, hoping it will serve as guidepost for the future.

Banc of California in Irvine has sold about $163 million of single-family residential mortgages to an unnamed buyer.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed to achieve their low-income and very low-income single-family home purchase goals for 2015, the Federal Housing Finance Agency annual housing report said.

A market that some Ginnie Mae issuers tap to help finance their mortgage operations has a dwindling number of investors.

Barclays is trying to draw a line at $2 billion in penalties to settle a U.S. investigation into its sale of mortgage securities after it received an opening offer that it considered too high.

Mortgage rates slipped from last week's spike and the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage eased back to its summertime range below 3.5%, according to Freddie Mac.

The Freddie Mac Multi-Indicator Market Index for August was up 5.4% over the same month last year, driven by its purchase component, which had an 18.6% increase.

Flagstar Bancorp's quarterly profit increased after a decline in the value of a 2012 legal settlement liability tied to its mortgage lending practices.

Fannie Mae is planning to provide relief to lenders from potential buybacks for loans in which the borrower's income, assets and employment information have been validated through automated underwriting.

Equifax Workforce Solutions has been selected as a designated vendor for Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter validation service.