Secondary markets

An appeals court on Wednesday voided a controversial decision in 2011 by New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff, saying he erred in scuttling a $325 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup.

Bank executives see opportunity in selling MSRs and servicing the loans for the buyers.

Fairholme Capital Management sold $51 million in the common shares of mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to activist investor Carl Icahn, according to a court filing.

Western Asset Management Co. is helping to resuscitate the market for mortgages not backed by the government.

A battle over social media about how well the current housing finance system treats African-Americans and other minorities has spurred a critical discussion about racial disparities in the mortgage market.

It could take quarters or years. It may require fatter yields to entice investors, or move-up homebuyers in need of jumbo loans. This much is agreed upon: Nobody really knows.

Research found the Ditech name still resonates with consumers after a five-year absence from the market, the lender says, though this incarnation won't be originating nonprime loans.

The congressional stalemate over how to restructure the housing finance system leaves several questions unanswered about other bank regulations currently in the pipeline.

The government is not providing enough support to serve a wider range of homeowners, many lenders say. But it's doubtful that the private market can do much better at this point.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are retaining more high-quality, conforming mortgages that they would normally sell to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, raising concerns that the banks are adversely selecting the weakest loans for the government-sponsored enterprises.

Fannie Mae sold $1.6 billion of risk-sharing debt to investors who today accepted the same yields on securities that wager on the default rates of riskier mortgages as on bonds tied to safer loans.

A joint effort by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop new technology for issuing mortgage-backed securities needs cost controls and a schedule, the auditor of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said.

Freddie Mac has long struggled to compete with larger rival Fannie Mae because the former's mortgage-backed securities trade at a discount to the latter's. Their new regulator may change that.

The trade group is now predicting $1.05 trillion of volume for this year as unemployment and tepid wage growth hold back homebuying.

The mortgage life support provided by the federal government since the crash is ebbing. It will be interesting to see if the industry can breathe on its own now.

The normally even-keeled moderate Sen. Mark Warner warned fellow Democrats voting against a housing finance reform that when Fannie and Freddie need another taxpayer bailout, it will be their fault.

Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee sounded off against bipartisan legislation to overhaul the mortgage finance system on Thursday, opposition that likely all but ruins the bill's chances of making it to the chamber floor this year.

As the market slows for post-downturn, private-label, residential mortgage-backed securities—known as RMBS 2.0—an industry group thinks it's time to start preparing for version 3.0.

The Senate Banking Committee passed major legislation to overhaul the housing finance system on Thursday.

The dim prospects for Congress doing anything to overhaul the system dominated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac leaves a host of big questions about what happens to the mortgage sector going forward.