Secondary markets

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

FHA volumes, a key contributor to Ginnie Mae issuance, could fall as long as the refinancing boom continues — unless the FHA takes a step that could reverse that trend.

How we resolve millions of delinquent mortgages due to COVID is the only question that matters.

The recent decrease in the rate at which current loans became impaired could further encourage the cautious return of the non-QM market currently underway.

The restrictions on the pooling of loans with any interest term based on Libor will be effective for traditional mortgage-backed securities issued starting Jan. 21, 2021, and earlier for reverse-mortgage securitizations.

Bondholders could see principal losses if, due to the way the documents are worded, the rate is frozen at the last published amount.

Electronic notes did come in handy this year given the mortgage industry's need to operate remotely, but they also increase the government-sponsored enterprises' responsibility for monitoring the risk of multiple counterparties.

Also the Federal Housing Administration, which is a key contributor of government-insured loans to Ginnie securitizations, recently set new conditions on mortgage applicants that have been in forbearance.

The pandemic drives home the point that without those funds being siphoned off, the recent fee hikes would not be necessary.

Ginnie Mae helped to fund more than $70 billion in loans aimed at helping low- and moderate-income borrowers in July.

The mortgage servicing rights package going up for bid adds to signs that the market for large offerings is becoming more active.

From guidelines for remote appraisal alternatives to the ways that forbearance affects borrowers' ability to get new loans, here are five examples of mortgage requirements that have been in flux since the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.

The mortgage REIT's external manager responded by filing a new lawsuit against it, calling the move "baseless and retaliatory."

The measures currently ensuring mortgage companies have sufficient cash to cover advances aren't necessarily sustainable, warns Ted Tozer, a senior fellow at the Milken Institute and a former government official.

Issuers approved for the program will receive written authority to use "digital collateral" for a limited number of securitizations.

The council created by the Dodd-Frank Act to identify systemic risks launched a review of the market as part of an activities-based approach that shifts focus away from targeting individual firms.

Guarantee fees became the main source of revenue for government-sponsored enterprises during conservatorship, and reverting to a private stockholder model could create a need for more revenue.

Nonbank servicers have been seeking more sources of cash since the coronavirus disrupted markets and elevated forbearance rates. These are some strategies they may be able to use.

Whatever path Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac take, the Mortgage Bankers Association would like to see them preserve many of the changes they made while in government conservatorship.

The Federal Housing Administration's move to insure loans with forbearance could help support homeownership opportunities constrained by the coronavirus if one change was made to it, trade groups said.