MBA, Trade Groups Urge Caution on FHFA Proposed Changes to GSE UMBS Pooling Practices

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a Jan. 21 letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria, urged caution on a proposed “waterfall approach” to pooling practices used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security market, saying in its current form the proposal could have a “negative effect” on market liquidity, raise borrowing costs and reduce access to credit.

MBA, Trade Groups Urge FHFA to Use Caution on Changes to GSE UMBS Pooling Practices

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria, urged caution on a proposed “waterfall approach” to pooling practices used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security market, saying in its current form the proposal could have a “negative effect” on market liquidity, raise borrowing costs and reduce access to credit.

MBA, Trade Groups Urge FHFA to Use Caution on Changes to GSE UMBS Pooling Practices

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria, urged caution on a proposed “waterfall approach” to pooling practices used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security market, saying in its current form the proposal could have a “negative effect” on market liquidity, raise borrowing costs and reduce access to credit.

FHFA: Nearly 4.4 Million Homeowners Helped Since Conservatorship

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released its quarterly Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, showing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 26,475 foreclosure prevention actions in the third quarter, bringing the total number of foreclosure prevention actions to 4.38 million since September 2008.

MBA Chart of the Week: Average Loan Size to First-Time Home Buyers

On average, the size of a first-time home buyer’s mortgage was $231,974 in the first three quarters of 2018, based on loan acquisitions data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This represents a 4.2% increase over the average size of $223,000 for mortgages to first-time home buyers originated in 2017 and an acceleration from the 1.8% annual gain in 2016.

Residential Briefs

The Federal Housing Finance Agency will extend, from Dec. 19 to Jan. 21, 2020, the deadline for interested parties to provide input on potential changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security pooling practices.