Capital markets

Volumes were at a record high in the final quarter of 2020 but lenders didn’t make quite as much since gains on loan sales to the secondary market fell.

The company is still searching for someone to fill the roll on a full-time basis, but the $600,000 annual salary cap may limit the candidate pool.

The government-sponsored enterprise announced Wednesday it will change eligibility criteria for vacation homes and investor properties starting April 1 to fulfill a directive by former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The $16.9 billion in issuance marked the biggest annual number seen since the government-sponsored enterprise reconstituted its risk sharing program in 2013.

The deal definitively ends a monthslong war of words between the data provider and stakeholders who attempted a hostile takeover.

January’s excess return came in at a level well above the trailing average for the month, thanks in large part to a helpful hand from the Federal Reserve.

Issuance of securitizations backed by these loans is becoming more dependable, and Fannie will need more mortgages that finance newly-built energy-efficient homes to keep it going.

The transaction consisting of $24 million in securitized Ginnie pools followed a 265% jump in broader industry eNote registrations last year.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council could determine that a broad range of mortgage companies should be subject to “heightened prudential standards,” said Andrew Olmem, a partner at Mayer Brown and a former senior economic adviser to the White House.

Upcoming changes to underwriting regulations, as well as the end of the QM patch, in addition to growing home values, all add up for this market to have a good year.

The volume of Ginnie securities issued in December marked the first time more than $80 billion has been issued in a month.

The buyout industry has about $3 trillion of unrealized value on its books, according to Preqin. And it’s tapping that to land loans for bolt-on deals, to refinance debt or bail out struggling companies in their portfolios.

Industry watchers make their wildest guesses (more or less) about developments in real estate finance that could rock the industry in the upcoming months.

The availability of financing hasn’t been an issue to date, but it still could be.

The deadline for inclusion in Ginnie mortgage-backed securities has been extended and an exception will be made for some participations.

Last year, smaller lenders were put at a slight disadvantage in terms of what they were charged in guarantee fees when they sold loans for cash.

The average per-loan profit margin remains incredibly strong, but the share of senior executives expecting it to fall has risen markedly.

Whether Ginnie issuance increases in the future may depend in part on the extent to which the Biden administration wishes to tap the FHA to promote affordable housing and homeownership.

Even government-sponsored enterprise loans, which have seen forbearance rates drop for 24 weeks in a row, saw a slight uptick.

York Capital Management told its investors this week that it was all but getting out of the hedge-fund business to focus on its $8.5 billion in longer-term products.