Secondary markets

Bank of America on Monday will launch a 3% down payment home loan in partnership with Freddie Mac, but the bank will not retain any risk if the loans default. That’s because it will immediately will sell the loans and servicing rights to Self-Help Federal Credit Union, a Durham, N.C., community development lender that's on a mission to put more low- and moderate-income families into homes of their own.

NMI Holdings should become profitable for the first time in the second half of 2016 as its insurance-in-force is expected to go over $21 billion.

Fannie Mae's net income fell 23% to $11 billion in 2015 from a year earlier despite benefiting from higher purchases of single-family and multifamily loans, the government-sponsored enterprise said Friday.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt stopped short of calling for Treasury to recapitalize the government-sponsored enterprises, but said "something needs to be done" before they run out of capital.

Mortgage servicers are actively discussing with regulators how current rules could be streamlined, and future rules could be shaped, to minimize costs and hassles.

Freddie Mac on Thursday reported strong fourth quarter and year-end profits driven by a surge in demand for both home purchase and apartment loans.

The cost of capital and regulatory compliance has convinced the top four banks that making home loans to American families is not worth the risk.

Investors continue to demand additional yield for exposure to defaults on loans insured by the Fannie Mae.

Fannie and Freddie have been selling pools of delinquent mortgages at auction to the highest bidders. Community groups say the Federal Housing Finance Agency should be giving preferential treatment to nonprofits and community development financial institutions.

Mortgage professional hiring and new job appointments for the week ending Feb. 12.

The Federal Housing Administration will continue to charge borrowers an annual premium over the entire life of the loan, rejecting calls from some housing advocates to change how it’s calculated.

Blackstone portfolio company Incenter has agreed to purchase Interactive Mortgage Advisers.

The Federal Home Loan Bank system is not a private country club and shouldn't be operating as one. Captive insurance companies represent new potential to expand homeownership opportunities for credit-worthy borrowers.

Strong demand for rentals will keep pace with new construction over the next few years, the government-sponsored enterprise says.

Redwood Trust said it will stop originating commercial mortgages for securitization and focus solely on investing in bonds backed by commercial mortgages originated by others.

Fitch Ratings is warning about the mezzanine tranches of commercial mortgage securitization by Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, though it is still rating the notes.

Many institutional investors are refusing to purchase mortgages loans until they get assurance from the CFPB that they won't have to pay for others' mistakes. Their pullback could further the slow the issuance of private-label mortgage bonds this year, a huge concern at a time when the majority of home loans are insured by Fannie, Freddie and the FHA.

Ted Tozer, president of the Government National Mortgage Agency wants more hands to monitor the growing number of nonbank MBS issuers.

The market for U.S. government mortgage-backed securities remains deeply liquid despite signs that trading conditions have weakened, according to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The price of the loans underlying commercial mortgage-backed securities declined 210 basis points during 2015, amid a broad rise in interest rates, according to DebtX.