Tag Archives: Fannie Mae

Milwaukee-based MGIC Investment Corp. reported net losses of $19.6 million for the first quarter, down from $33.7 million year-over-year. The mortgage insurer said that total first-quarter revenues hovered at $379.7 million, up from $353.1 million in revenues from last year. MGIC wrote $255 million in net premiums, down from $274.5 million from the same period last year. New insurance written by MGIC amounted to $4.2 billion, an increase from $3 billion in the first quarter last year.

Democratic state attorneys general circulated a letter Thursday that called on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô and their regulator ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô to move forward with principal reductions. FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco continues to resist calls by lawmakers and policymakers to implement new loan modifications for homeowners, stressing the agency├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├àÔÇ£preserve and conserve├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├é┬Ø mandate. Coakley and others were joined this week by International Monetary Fund Director Christine Lagarde.

Fannie Mae has approved a new underwriter for debt securities. Multi-Bank Securities, Inc., recently announced that it has now been added as part of Fannie├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Access program. Michigan-based MBS operates as a fixed-income securities broker-dealer, and the company serves credit unions, banks, municipalities, and other institutions around the U.S. Through its underwriting activities, MBS also provides wholesale deposits to various financial institutions.

For many Americans, 2012 may be the year to own a new home and trade up on the mortgage, if results from Fannie Mae's latest survey say anything. The mortgage giant released results Monday that found 33 percent of respondents with the expectation that home prices will increase over the next year, a 5 percentage point climb from the month before and the highest over the last 12 months. The respondents said that home prices could tick up by 0.9 percent over the next year, just as 39 percent of Americans agreed that mortgage rates will likely ascend in the next year.

MountainView Servicing Group recently signed off on the sale of two packages of mortgage servicing rights for loans backed by mortgage giant Fannie Mae. The first package totaled $251 million in servicing rights and largely included 30-year and 1-year fixed-rate mortgages. The second package, worth $144 million in rights, comprised reportedly prime-quality 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. The company said that both were sold without bifurcation. Many major banks continue to sell and purchase servicing rights for mortgages as the economic recovery picks up.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac entered federal conservatorship in 2008, as lawmakers and presidents stepped in to stymie a freefall for the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós largest mortgage companies, just as words like subprime and systemically important institutions gained traction for the public. Four years and roughly $180 billion in taxpayer funds later, old hands, regulators, and freshman lawmakers alike struggle with a vexing riddle. How can a system polarized by politics safely shrink companies responsible for more than $11 trillion in mortgages without blowing the recovery ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô and what will it mean for mortgage finance?

Job and employment figures may keep homeowners near the sidelines, but more Americans still value homeownership and consider it an investment worth making, according to a recent survey. Mortgage giant Fannie Mae polled some 3,000 respondents during the fourth quarter and revealed the figures in a Quarterly National Housing Survey Tuesday. More Americans prefer homeownership to the alternative ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô renting ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô and see it as an investment in their futures. The belief in homeownership also extended to respondents across all education levels.

The Senate cleared a bill Thursday that bans bonuses for executives with either of the GSEs and requires mortgage disclosures from senior-level government officials. The bill ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô passed by a count of 96 to 3, according to news outlets, and combines an earlier House version with Senate amendments. Except in certain circumstances, under the law, government officials and their spouses will need to disclose report on and disclose information about their mortgage loans. GSE executives will be eligible only for federal pay grades.

The House Budget Committee unveiled a budget plan for the next fiscal year that proposes raising guarantee fees for the GSEs and dismantling the Dodd-Frank Act. Committee chair Rep. Paul Ryan billed the so-called Path to Prosperity as a measure that will slash $6.2 trillion in government expenditures over the next decade and draw down the deficit by more than $4.4 trillion in contrast with President Barack Obama├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós budget. House Republicans proposed raising guarantee fees, downsizing portfolios for the GSEs, and eventually leaving housing finance to only the Federal Housing Administration.

Refinance activity ticked up for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the fourth quarter, showing an increase in interest for the Home Affordable Refinance Program over last year. The Federal Housing Finance Agency released the results Monday in a Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report for the last quarter. Total HARP refinance volume came to include more than 1,021,800 loans, with a cumulative rise by 10 percent for the GSEs in the fourth quarter. Of these, Fannie Mae netted 376,365 in refinance loans, a measure of 2,045,777 HARP loans it saw last year.