Economy

The launch of a combined securitization platform for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is meant to ease the transition to a new housing finance system. But questions remain about how the mortgage sphere will adapt to the single security.

The large number of overleveraged commercial mortgage-backed securities loans coming due in 2019 is likely to cause the payoff rate to drop an additional 9 percentage points by December, a Morningstar report said.

Delinquencies associated with the government-sponsored enterprises high loan-to-value ratio programs that target low-to-moderate income homebuyers are slightly better than expected, at least early on, according to Fitch.

Government-sponsored enterprise executives say they want to continue to offer credit risk transfers and guarantee-fee parity after the GSEs are released from conservatorship, but they might not be able to.

Although higher corporate debt could hurt the economy, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell argued changes made since the last crisis will guard against a meltdown.

With prospects for government-sponsored enterprise reform improving, players in the private residential mortgage-backed securities market are starting to think about how they could better compete against the GSEs while awaiting change.

His administration is looking at different alternatives to reform the housing finance system.

Farmers were already taking on more debt to cover losses from falling crop prices. New tariffs and other retaliatory moves could hurt ag borrowers further and lead to loan losses and tighter underwriting.

In his first public policy speech as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mark Calabria stressed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will have to raise significant capital via a public offering and take other steps in order to escape government control.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has named three senior advisers for policy, economics and communications.

The Government Accountability Office called on Ginnie Mae to undertake four reforms to its operations, citing concerns regarding the ongoing shift in size and capitalization of mortgage-backed securities issuers.

The large single-loan transaction covers two lab-office facilities in the Boston area's crowded life sciences corridor near MIT.

Investors can now exchange certain existing Freddie Mac bonds for to-be-announced uniform mortgage-backed securities in preparation for the full launch of UMBS next month.

Freddie Mac is now offering to buy a new form of manufactured housing loan with terms similar to that of conventional mortgages from all eligible lenders, following a test run last year.

Freddie Mac will keep building on the financial reforms that produced profitability during conservatorship as broader government-sponsored enterprise proposals take shape, according to departing CEO Don Layton.

Fannie Mae is considering sharing more risk with the private sector to reduce future strain on its earnings from the implementation of the Current Expected Credit Loss accounting standard next year.

Schwarzman says a dramatic change in tax policy under Democratic lawmakers or a rise in interest rates by the Federal Reserve could be a shock to the economy.

New FHFA Director Mark Calabria isn't just charting a future for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but also fixing problems resulting from the "qualified mortgage" exemption for the GSEs and taking a "deep dive" into problems in the mortgage servicing market.

The trio of malls collateralizing the new mortgage include two well-performing mall as well as a troubled Florida super-regional shopping center.

Investors include New Orleans sports franchise owner Gayle Benson, placing the hotel under local ownership for the first time since it was built in 1976.