Freddie Mac

House Financial Services Committee Jeb Hensarling shifted tactics on housing finance reform Wednesday, acknowledging that a bill he’s pushed for years to virtually eliminate the government’s role in the mortgage market lacks the support to become law.

Testing of the common securitization platform is taking longer than expected, but the Federal Housing Finance Agency said it won't delay the 2019 launch of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's new single "uniform mortgage-backed security."

A provision in the original Senate tax reform bill would have required companies acquiring mortgage servicing rights to pay taxes upfront for their anticipated servicing income.

The financial services industry has cheered a proposed reduction in the corporate tax rate, but a lower rate could force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to write down assets, increasing the odds that the companies will need Treasury support.

New Residential Investment Corp. is planning to purchase Shellpoint Partners in the first half of next year for $190 million with an additional earn-out over the next three years.

Conforming loan limits for mortgages bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will increase for the second consecutive year in response to the rapid rise in home prices, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said.

The Show Me State passed legislation enabling residential and commercial PACE financing in 2010; however, Renovate America only started funding assessments through the Missouri Clean Energy District three months ago, in August 2017.

That’s an about-face from the bank’s previous transaction, completed in October, which was backed by fixed-rate mortgages, nearly half of which were underwritten to standards for purchase by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Mark Calabria, the chief economic adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, said the administration is focused for now on more pressing issues than GSE reform, including addressing housing damage from recent hurricanes.

Called Structured Agency Credit Risk Securitized Participation Interests, the new securities are backed by mortgage loans, and are not general obligations of the government-sponsored enterprise.