Mortgages

Fannie hasn't completed any credit risk transfers to private investors since the second quarter. Some experts worry the decision — likely spurred by the company’s concerns about a recent capital regulation — could put the mortgage giant on unsteady footing.

The head of the Federal Housing Administration said Congress should consider whether to continue allowing the loan floor and ceiling to remain tied to changes in the conforming mortgage limit.

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

The extension of the FHA’s willingness to conditionally endorse loans with suspended payments came amid a renewed push by public and private entities to spread awareness of the CARES Act option.

The price increase illustrates the extent to which federal rescue programs and a supply-demand imbalance have been counterweights to economic pressures from the pandemic.

The Structured Finance Association fears Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin may release the government-sponsored enterprises from conservatorship ahead of the change in administration, and that doing so could disrupt the mortgage-backed securities market.

The center’s annual study shows the extent to which larger multi-unit properties are insulated from distress.

Mortgage delinquencies dropped to the lowest level since March but, particularly at the seriously delinquent level, they're still much higher than pre-coronavirus rates, according to Black Knight.

Company CEO Michael Nierenberg previously commented the real estate investment trust's parts could be worth more than the whole.

Weaker consumer spending data coming into the holiday season, as well as a resurgence of the COVID-19 spread, pushed mortgage rates to a new low, Freddie Mac said.

A Freddie Mac study of loans in forbearance from 2017 and 2020 found that, over both periods, borrowers had low credit scores and high debt-to-income ratios.

Mortgage applications slipped 0.3% from one week earlier, as refinance volume, particularly for Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs loans, shrank significantly, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Rates could be 50 basis points steeper than the MBA’s current projections, which anticipate the 30-year mortgage will average 3.3% next year, up from nearly 3% this year.

Lenders also increased jumbo product availability as well as rolling out new SOFR-indexed ARMs.

There have been several extensions of the policy since it was put into place as a way to sustain originations amid a wave of forbearance allocated to borrowers with government-related loans.

Freddie Mac representatives would not comment on the sudden resignation of Brickman. Interim CEO Michael Hutchins has served as Freddie’s executive vice president of investments and capital markets since January 2015.

The sector’s leaders are hoping for better in 2021, while not forgetting lessons learned about the market’s risks in 2020.

Wells Fargo is exploring selling a unit offering store-branded credit cards as the bank chooses businesses to keep or break off in a broad strategic overhaul, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Mortgage rates moved off of their all-time low this week as a result of reports that Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine was potentially 90% effective, according to Freddie Mac.

The overall mortgage delinquency rate improved in the third quarter as the economy got healthier while late-stage delinquencies hit a decade high, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.