Freddie Mac

The Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) of Harvard University released a working paper by Don Layton, a senior industry fellow at JCHS titled “What the FHFA Needs to Get Right in Its GSE Capital Rule.”

It’s been a busy week for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). During the American Credit Union Mortgage Association’s Annual Conference, Director Mark Calabria shared his concerns about volume-based pricing discounts on Guarantee Fees (G-Fees). FHFA issued a confidential administrative directive to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac restricting competition on G-Fees

FHFA sent a letter to the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) instructing them that, as of December 31, 2019, they should stop purchasing investments in assets tied to London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) with a contractual maturity beyond December 31, 2021.

FHFA announced modified Preferred Stock Purchase agreements with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that allow the GSEs to retain capitals of up to $25 billion and $20 billion, respectively. The move ends the capital sweep on earnings above $3 billion that was put into place in 2008 when the GSEs entered conservatorship.

Finally, FHFA announced an agreement with Simone Grimes who accused former director Melvin Watt of sexual harassment.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced new multifamily loan purchase caps of $100 million each for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2020. The new caps apply to all multifamily business with no exclusions. The FHFA also directs at least 37.5 percent of Fannie […]

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco are hosting four Duty to Serve (DTS) Listening Sessions in the Fall of 2019. These listening sessions are an opportunity for the public to provide input on the Enterprises’ proposed plans for the second DTS plan cycle, 2021-2023.

Last week the Department of the Treasury and HUD sent their Housing Finance Reform Plans to President Trump following his March Memorandum, which ordered the reports. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a hearing on Housing Finance Reform: Next Steps with HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and FHFA Director Mark Calabria as witnesses.

The National Housing Conference (NHC) released a new white paper on housing finance reform that calls for bipartisan cooperation between Congress and the Trump administration to complete housing finance reform leading to the release of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship. he paper establishes seven conditions to guide administrative and statutory reform to ensure that the U.S. will have a well-functioning housing finance system that provides consistent, affordable credit to borrowers across the nation and through all parts of the credit cycle, while minimizing the risk of another taxpayer-funded bailout.

The Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) of Harvard University released a new paper GSE Reform: None or Mostly Done? Author Don Layton argue that while Congress has yet to pass comprehensive reform of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), almost all of the major flaws of the pre-conservatorship GSEs have been successfully addressed while the companies have been in conservatorship.

Freddie Mac Multifamily announced four vice presidents: Geri Borger Urgo is now vice president, production & sales, overseeing the Southeast and Northeast regions. Michael Case is now vice president, multifamily capital markets, overseeing all multifamily loan pricing functions. Catherine Evans is now vice president, Small Balance Loan (SBL) underwriting, overseeing the SBL underwriting team. Amanda Nunnink is now vice president, Multifamily investor relations, leading the team that markets the multifamily securities platform. 

Chairman David Perdue (R-GA) and Ranking Member Bob Menendez (D-NJ) of the Senate Banking subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee introduced S.1463, a bill to establish a scorekeeping rule to ensure that increases in guarantee fees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shall not be used to offset provisions that increase the deficit.

This American Banker article explores the remarks from President Trump at the recent National Association of Realtors event. “This is a pretty urgent problem.  We’re doing well with it now… We have many geniuses looking at it and we’ll figure something out.”

At the Mortgage Bankers Association conference, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Dr. Mark Calabria said “ while I’m committed to working with Congress, I’m not going to wait on Congress.”

RED Mortgage Capital announced the closing of a $60 million, 18 property portfolio in Union City, NJ through the Freddie Mac OptigoSM Small Balance Loan (SBL) program. The financing was for the acquisition of the multifamily properties, which include 481 units of affordable housing.

RED Mortgage Capital announced the hire of D. Edward Greene as Chief Underwriter for Affordable Housing. Greene joins RED from Freddie Mac, where he most recently served as Senior Managing Director of Underwriting and Credit. In that role, Greene focused on Freddie Mac’s Targeted Affordable Housing and Specialty Products.