Economy

Loan limits for most mortgages Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy will exceed $500,000 for the first time ever next year, and the maximum for most high-cost areas will be $765,000.

From product-specific variations in refinancing rates to pockets of depreciation in an otherwise healthy market, here are some details in housing-related data that highlight important underlying trends in the mortgage business.

Laredo Petroleum Inc. and Oasis Petroleum Inc. are among at least six producers whose ability to secure short-term loans against their oil and natural gas reserves have dropped by 10% or more.

The nonbank share of large mortgage servicing is growing, but smaller players tend to be depositories, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found in a new report aimed at examining regulatory impacts.

The former head of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight explains why he thinks the mortgage industry is closer than ever to having a truly paperless process, and weighs in on GSE reform.

The House Financial Services chair is sponsoring a bill with one of the Democratic presidential contenders aimed at alleviating the public housing capital backlog.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is scrapping a capital proposal it released last year and will seek comments on a new plan in 2020.

With economic expansion expected to keep churning through at least the first half of next year, Fannie Mae upwardly revised its single-family mortgage origination outlook for 2019 and 2020.

The 2015 decision posed new legal challenges for institutions trying to sell loans to third parties, but the federal regulatory agency proposed steps Monday for banks and debt parties to evade state interest rate caps.

The Federal Housing Financial Agency's latest report on credit risk transfers shows Fannie Mae continues to slowly improve a multifamily mortgage risk-sharing metric that lags Freddie Mac's by a wide margin.

And the government-sponsored enterprises could hold initial public offerings in 2021 or 2022 to ensure they hold adequate capital, FHFA Director Mark Calabria said.

So far farm loans are holding up well, but bankers gathered at an industry conference this week said they are growing increasingly concerned that credit quality will weaken if the U.S. and China don’t reach a deal soon.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s exemption from the Qualified Mortgage rule is on borrowed time, but a House bill would allow lenders to use the mortgage giants’ guidelines for documenting borrower income.

At a forum convened by the CFPB, several bank and fintech executives argued that long-delayed rules required under the Dodd-Frank Act can help fight discrimination and shine a light on unsavory practices in the market for small-business credit.

An increase in credit risk transfer activity since 2015 signifies a sea change for private mortgage insurers that may be about to intensify, according to an industry trade group.

The Supreme Court is ready to weigh in on the CFPB’s leadership structure, but both agencies are facing similar constitutional challenges, suggesting a broader impact of any decision.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking comment on a proposal that could pave the way for potential Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac competitors to use the uniform mortgage-backed security structure.

Freddie Mac is now forecasting back-to-back years of $2 trillion in mortgage loan originations rather than a drop-off in 2020.

A risk management model revision that decreased single-family loan-loss allowances and a strong mortgage lending environment contributed to consistent earnings results at Fannie Mae in the third quarter.

Freddie Mac will make haste to leave conservatorship in line with new regulatory directives, but it's uncertain how quickly it can move, CEO David Brickman said in an earnings call.