Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[navycmdr]

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BIG FINANCIAL SERVICES NEWS: Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), a GOP frontrunner to lead the House Financial Services Committee after Patrick McHenry, has decided to retire, a spokesperson tells me.

This puts Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) as the heir apparent for the role

— Brendan Pedersen (@BrendanPedersen) January 4, 2024

https://t.co/AFXJuvFOCe https://t.co/uccgt2oUYw

— Jarndyce Jarndyce (@JarndyceJ) January 4, 2024

SEPT 18, 2023


Inside Mortgage Finance - NEWS ....



Agency MBS Issuance Fails to Reach $1.0 Trillion in 2023

Fri Jan 5, 2024 - [e-mail]

Agency single-family mortgage securitization volume came in slightly below $1.0 trillion in 2023.
It marked the first year since 2014 that agency issuance fell short of the $1 trillion mark.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae produced $996.45 billion of single-family MBS,
off 41.1% from the year before, according to an exclusive Inside Mortgage Finance analysis.

Ginnie had a somewhat better year than the two government-sponsored enterprises.
Ginnie issuance was off 26.7%, but its share of the agency market bolted to 37.6%,
up from 30.2% in 2022.

Purchase-mortgage volume held up significantly better than refinance loan activity.
The agencies recorded a 20.6% decline in purchase-loan securitization from 2022,
while their refi business plummeted by 76.3%.

Interest Rate Movements Stall, Potentially for a While

Fri Jan 5, 2024 - [e-mail]

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage ticked up slightly this
week on a weekly basis, according to Freddie Mac. The average rate went
from 6.61% last week to 6.62% this week.

“Rates have moved sideways [since mid-December] as the market digests
incoming economic data,” said Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie.

And employment figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
suggest that interest rates on mortgages could hold steady for a while,
according to Mike Fratantoni, a senior vice president and chief economist
at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 216,000 in December on a
monthly basis, only slightly below the average seen for the full year.
And the unemployment rate was flat on a monthly basis, at 3.7% in December.

“These data are likely to keep interest rates from falling further at this point,
but we expect mortgage rates to drift down over the year as the economy
slows,” Fratantoni said.


Lenders Urged to Make First-Time Homeownership Sustainable

Fri Jan 5, 2024 - [e-mail]

Lenders need to do a better job preparing first-time homebuyers for housing
expenses beyond mortgage principal and interest, such as local property taxes
and homeowners insurance, according to Gisele Roget, founding principal of
DC-based Overbrook Square Group.

Roget and other industry participants spoke at an event in December produced
by the National Housing Conference.

Roget noted that a mortgage borrower’s property tax obligations go up when
home price increase, and homebuyers should know this. Policymakers, too,
should keep the issue in mind and recognize that the next foreclosure wave
could be driven by higher property tax and insurance costs, she said.

David Battany, an executive vice president at Guild Mortgage, said the first five
years of homeownership are often the most challenging financially for first-time
buyers because they expend lots of cash for closing fees and a large downpayment.
In later years, they’re more likely to have higher incomes and flat monthly
mortgage payments.