Secondary Market

Five federal agencies issued Tuesday a statement assuring creditors that they do not run the risk of being found in violation of fair lending laws should they choose to only originate qualified mortgages (QM) as defined earlier in the year. With creditors having to consider a balance of secondary market opportunities, capital requirements, and credit and liability risk, regulators say they expect there will be a need for most businesses to fine-tune their products in response--something they should be used to.

ValuTrac Software, a software solutions provider to the appraisal management and mortgage lending industry, announced the hiring of David Yavorsky as the company's new CIO.

According to RE/MAX's National Housing Report for September, closed transactions fell 18.5 percent month-over-month, following the trend that usually occurs as summer passes into autumn. Year-over-year, sales increased 10.7 percent, making September the 27th consecutive month in which sales rose on an annual basis. The company also reported a slowdown in the rate of inventory decline. Compared to September 2012, inventories were down 13.4 percent, bringing the month supply to 5.0 at the current sales pace.

The Residential Standards Governance Committee of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) has elected Randy Gilster as its chairman.

Collateral Analytics, appointed James R. Follain, Ph.D. as its SVP of research and development. Dr. Follain is an economist with over 35 years' experience in the analysis of housing and mortgage markets, much of which involved the measurement and management of the risks associated with lending and investing as well as public policies.

August's rising mortgage rates continued to impact refinance numbers reported by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) latest data.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Mike Fratantoni has been appointed chief economist following the departure of Jay Brinkmann.

Overall, Fannie's outlook is "largely unchanged from the previous forecast," although "fiscal uncertainties associated with the federal government shutdown, the protracted negotiations to raise the debt ceiling, and the timing of the Federal Reserve's tapering of its asset purchase program, pose significant downside risks to economic activity in the current quarter," said Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. As such, the GSE is revising its forecasted GDP growth for this year from 2 percent to 1.9 percent.

DebtX, based in Boston, Massachusetts, has partnered with SEBA Professional Services will sell a $5 billion portfolio of non-performing residential loans for HUD.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has appointed Tricia Migliazzo as VP of membership for the association's Residential Policy & Member Services Group.