Home prices fell in October for the first time since March according to the monthly Case Shiller Home Price Index.
Read More »Investment Bank Predicts 2013 Will Resemble 2012
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW), a boutique investment bank and broker-dealer, is predicting "more of the same" for the mortgage market in 2013.
Read More »Report: GSEs May Have Lost More than $3B in Rate-Rigging Scandal
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have lost billions of dollars as a result of borrowing rate manipulation.
Read More »MBA Assembles GSE Single-Family Task Force
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has assembled a GSE Single Family Task Force to revisit the association's 2009 proposal for the future of the secondary market and to further discourse on this topic. The task force will work in two phases. First, they will review the 2009 position and determine potential issues during a transition. Next, they will put together a "roadmap" for the transition.
Read More »FHFA Deputy Director to Retire from Agency in 2013
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) deputy director Stephen Cross will retire from his post in March 2013, according to an announcement from acting director Edward DeMarco. Cross has served as FHFA's deputy director of the Division of Federal Home Loan Bank Regulation since the agency's creation in 2008.
Read More »FHA Announces 2013 Loan Limits
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has released its mortgage loan limits for 2013.
Read More »Report: White House Preparing to Replace DeMarco
Edward DeMarco's days directing the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) may be numbered, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. "People familiar with the discussions" told The Wall Street Journal the White House is preparing to nominate a new director. According to those sources, administration officials are still in the process of gathering names for potential nominees. DeMarco has no shortage of nemeses both in and out of Washington, though he's not without supporters.
Read More »FHFA to Increase Oversight of Staff Compensation at GSEs
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) isn't doing enough to monitor compensation for senior professionals at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Office of the Inspector General (FHFA-OIG) suggests in a new report. According to the report, senior professionals (classified as VPs and directors) earned a collective $455 million in 2011. The median cash compensation for the Enterprises' total 333 VPs was $388,000, while the median pay among the 1,650 director positions was $205,300.
Read More »HARP Refinances Continue Climb Under Revised Program
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinanced more than 90,000 mortgages through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) in September.
Read More »FHFA Reports Modest Price Growth in September
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's monthly Home Price Index showed prices continued to inch up in September, climbing 0.2 percent from the prior month. September marks the eighth consecutive month in which prices have increased. However, even with consistent price gains, "a number of factors continue to affect the recovery in home prices such as stagnant income growth, high unemployment levels, lingering uncertainty about the macroeconomy, and the large number of homes in the foreclosure pipeline."
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