FHFA

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."

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.

Though FHFA Director Mel Watt stopped short of saying he would break with a Treasury agreement that forces all profits of the GSEs to go to the government, he emphasized that it couldn’t continue indefinitely.

Mortgage investors want Freddie Mac to align its policy with Fannie Mae's when it comes to how delinquencies related to Hurricane Harvey affect credit risk transfer deals.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will adjust their risk-sharing deals so that they can accommodate high loan-to-value loans refinanced under the programs replacing the Home Affordable Refinance Program.

The government-sponsored enterprise is still looking for the right balance between offering a product that's attractive to investors and a cost-effective way to reduce risk.

The government-sponsored enterprises transferred $5.5 billion of credit risk on $174 billion of mortgages in their portfolios during the first quarter.

Rather than working with large-scale investors, Freddie Mac said it will focus on assisting community organizations and local institutions to fund single-family properties for renters with special needs.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency made just incremental changes to two of the seven affordable housing benchmarks.

The Senate is set to begin teeing up housing finance reform discussions at a Banking Committee hearing on Thursday, but many are skeptical that Congress will be able to succeed where it has failed in the past.