fannie mae

Connecticut's wealthy hedge-fund haven, home to Shonda Rhimes and the billionaire owner of the Mets, is losing federal 'high-cost' housing status after its home price gains lagged the US

A polo tournament in Fairfield, Connecticut, which is losing its high-cost...

Americans' confidence in home buying has fallen to its lowest level since Fannie Mae's survey began

Rising mortgage rates and high house prices are driving potential homebuyers...

Mortgage rates just hit a high not seen since the 2008 housing crash

Thomas Northcut/Getty Images The US 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage has reached...

3 signs it's getting less competitive to buy a home

A young couple buys a new home.Getty Images The US real estate market is slowing down. It's because inflation and interest rates have priced out many potential buyers. As demand wanes, there are three key signs...

Oil prices plunge as global growth and US recession warnings keep piling up

Oil prices have risen sharply following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.imaginima/Getty Images Crude oil prices fell more than 5% Tuesday as economic warnings piled up. The IMF slashed its forecast for global economic...

Lenders tread carefully around targeted lending programs

Last week’s announcement from the Department of Housing and Urban Development cleared the way for lenders to adopt targeted lending programs, but so far, they are treading carefully. The pronouncement was more than...

Private-label RMBS market has cause to celebrate

As 2021 draws to a close, it’s clear that the private-label residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) market has notched a year for the record books. For the full year, the RMBS 2.0 market — defined as all...

Forbearance rate dips to 1.67% in November

The share of mortgage loans in forbearance decreased by 39 basis points to 1.67% as of Nov. 30, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the latest sign that the sun is setting on loan forbearance agreements hammered out under the CARES Act. Under COVID-19 legislation signed by President Donald Trump in April 2020, many homeowners could strike deals with their lenders on a year-long or up to 18-month forbearance plan. With...

Who’s afraid of the PSPA?

Stakeholders are divided over whether, in light of proposed changes to its capital rule, the Federal Housing Finance Agency should retool its agreement with the U.S. Treasury and remove policies some say never belonged...

Fannie Mae revs up its credit-risk transfer machinery

Fannie Mae is once again back in the credit-risk transfer market with a $984 million note offering through its Connecticut Avenue Securities real estate mortgage investment conduit, or REMIC. The recent offering, CAS...

Ex-MBA prez Ronald McCord to pay $52M mortgage fraud penalty

A federal judge ordered Ronald McCord, the founder of Oklahoma City-based lender and servicer First Mortgage Company, who was also once the president of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), to pay $51.8 million in restitution for mortgage fraud. United States District Judge Robin Cauthron ordered McCord also serve 8.5 years in prison — the maximum the federal government said it would seek — as well as three years of supervised...

Doug Duncan to speak at Engage Marketing June 17

Economists came into their own last year as their ability to model likely future scenarios and interpret the numbers were crucial to lenders surviving and thriving in the pandemic. That information is still critical...

FHFA finalizes rule on living wills for Fannie and Freddie

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) finalized a rule on Monday that will require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop plans that would ensure upon their eventual exit from conservatorship, they won’t do any large scale harm to the financial system. Should the FHFA be appointed receiver for the government-sponsored entities under the Housing and Economic Recovery act of 2008 (HERA), the so-called “living wills” would...

Advisory Firms Have Been Shaking Up the Agency Multifamily Lending Arena

Newmark, like many other global advisory firms, has evolved into one of the most dominant agency lenders in the country since gaining agency lending licensing in 2018 via its acquisition of Berkeley Point Capital (BPC)....

Fannie and Freddie continued to pump originations in Q1

After a record year of mortgage originations, the GSEs released their Q1 earnings for the year on Thursday and Friday, revealing that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still riding the tail end of the market’s...

Few may actually qualify for low-income refi program

The great refi boom in 2020 wasn’t exactly equitable. Wealthier borrowers with stable jobs and high credit scores were fortunate enough to lock in a forever rate, typically lowering their monthly mortgage payments by...

White House aware of issues over investment properties

The federal government is well aware that mortgage lenders and industry stakeholders are frustrated by the 7% cap on second homes and investment properties that was implemented as part of a broader series of amendments...

DC Midtown Center, Fannie Mae’s HQ, Recapitalized With Korean Investor

Carr Properties has recapitalized Midtown Center, an 868,834-square-foot, trophy office building in Washington, D.C. JLL Capital Markets arranged the recapitalization, sourcing equity through a consortium of Korean...

Fannie Mae celebrates Single-Family Green MBS milestone

A year after issuing its first Single-Family Green Mortgage Backed Security on Earth Day 2020, Fannie Mae has now completed 25 transactions for the program, totaling $167 million in bonds backed by mortgages on newly...

Frustrated homebuyers turn to fixer-uppers

Patrick, a 25-year old tech worker, had his heart set on buying a home in the Reading, Massachusetts area, where he grew up. He wasn’t looking for a fixer-upper. That turned out to be nearly impossible as home prices...

Housing market inventory is starting to recover

Housing starts jumped in March, recovering from a bleak February that included wild winter storms in the South, according to a recent report from the Census Bureau. Single-family housing starts rose 15.3% over the month...

Homepoint lures another Fannie Mae executive

By the time Homepoint is done, there may not be anyone left in the corner offices at Fannie Mae. The wholesale mortgage originator and servicer announced Wednesday that it had hired yet another longtime mortgage...

GSEs won’t buy QM loans under GSE Patch after July 1

In Lender Letters issued on Thursday, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac confirmed that loans purchased by the GSEs with application dates on and after July 1, 2021, must meet the standards of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Revised Qualified Mortgage Rule. In the letters, the two government sponsored enterprises state that they will follow the directive laid out in their amended Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements with the...

Home sellers are feeling good about 2021

Home sellers are chomping at the bit. As the economy reopens, vaccinations continue to roll out and stimulus checks reach bank accounts across America, home sellers are increasingly optimistic. And despite fierce...