United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia on Tuesday called embattled Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria “a great leader” who is “doing good things” amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Mark Calabria is trying to do the right thing,” Ishbia said in an interview with National Mortgage Professional Magazine on Facebook Live. “It’s really easy to judge people and say I wish Mark Calabria would do X, I wish the CEO of Fannie Mae would do Y, I wish the Fed would do Z, Trump would do A. He’s doing his best to try to help not just mortgage lenders but everybody. He’s overseeing Fannie and Freddie. Ishbia continued, “I would tell him to keep up the great work, continue to listen…
The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a reminder Monday that borrowers who go into forbearance will not have to repay missed payments all at once if their mortgages are backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. FHFA said the statement was issued to “combat ongoing misinformation” and urged all mortgage lenders to adopt similar policies. “During this national health emergency, no one should be worried about losing their home,” FHFA Director Mark Calabria said. “No lump sum is required at the end of a borrower’s forbearance plan for Enterprise-backed mortgages.” The $2 trillion CARES Act includes a moratorium on foreclosures and the right to forbearance. Forbearance allows borrowers with a federally backed mortgage to put off payments for at least…
Good morning! Today is Thursday, April 23. The House is expected to approve an additional $320 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program targeted to small businesses hurt by the coronavirus. Harvard will return its $9 million federal stimulus check. President Trump announced that national parks will reopen. And in mortgage and housing news … GSE’S PURCHASE: The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that it will allow Fannie and Freddie to purchase some single-family mortgages in forbearance in an attempt to support the liquidity of mortgage lenders during the coronavirus pandemic. HOME PRICES: Home prices in the United States rose 0.7 percent in February over the previous month – and 5.7 percent over a year earlier, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced. NIGHTMARE SCENARIO: MBS Highway President and…
The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Wednesday that it will allow Fannie and Freddie to purchase some single-family mortgages in forbearance in an attempt to support the liquidity of mortgage lenders during the coronavirus pandemic. FHFA took action in response to borrowers seeking mortgage forbearance shortly after closing on loans – and before the lender could deliver the loan to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (GSEs). Prior to Wednesday’s change, loans in forbearance were ineligible to be sold under Fannie and Freddie requirements, placing the borrower and the lender in jeopardy. “We are focused on keeping the mortgage market working for current and future homeowners during these challenging times,” FHFA Director Mark Calabria said. “Purchases of these previously ineligible loans…
Home prices in the United States rose 0.7 percent in February over the previous month – and 5.7 percent over a year earlier, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Wednesday. “U.S. house prices posted a strong increase in February,” said Dr. Lynn Fisher, Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics at FHFA. “The growth in home prices coincides with other data showing robust housing market activity in early 2020 preceding the current crisis. House prices had positive monthly gains in every census division. Transactions still do not reflect much, if any, influence from the COVID-19 outbreak as of February.” Seasonally adjusted monthly house price changes from January 2020 to February 2020 were up in all nine census divisions of…
Good morning! Today is Wednesday, April 22. A 3.7 magnitude earthquake shook parts of L.A. The Senate passed a $480 billion aid package to help small businesses and hospitals to blunt the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus. Netflix has added 16 million new subscribers. And in mortgage and housing news … FOUR-MONTH FORBEARANCE: The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that mortgage lenders will only have to cover four months of missed payments from borrowers under forbearance during the coronavirus pandemic. Is a Fed liquidity facility next? HOME SALES: Existing home sales fell in March amid the coronavirus outbreak, though overall sales were up slightly from a year ago, the National Association of Realtors announced. FLYING W RECOVERY: The housing market recovery is projected to look like a “flying…
The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Tuesday that mortgage lenders will only have to cover four months of missed payments from borrowers under forbearance during the coronavirus pandemic. The change applies to all mortgage lenders managing Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae backed loans. FHFA, which had been under intense pressure to provide relief to lenders, said that mortgage servicers with Fannie and Freddie loans will have “no further obligation to advance scheduled payments” to creditors after four loan payments have been missed. In short, the announcement means the loans in forbearance due to the coronavirus can be kept in mortgage-backed security pools as long as they are in forbearance. “The four-month servicer advance obligation limit for loans in forbearance provides…
By Jim Perskie The number of loans in forbearance continues to rise, with nearly 6 percent of all mortgages in pause as borrowers cope with economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The share of loans in forbearance climbed from 3.74 percent to 5.95 percent as of April 12, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Forbearance and Call Volume survey released Monday. That amounts to roughly 3 million mortgages. Before the pandemic took hold of the economy, about 0.25 percent of mortgages were in forbearance. “With over 22 million Americans filing for unemployment over the past month, homeowners are contacting their mortgage servicers seeking relief, leading to a sharp increase in the share of loans in forbearance across all loan…
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria said on April 1 he expected 300,000 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans – or 1 percent of their mortgages – to go into forbearance in April. Less than three weeks later, he’s way, way off. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that 4.64 percent of Fannie and Freddie loans were in forbearance as of April 12. And an analysis by financial technology firm Black Knight found that there were nearly 1.4 million Fannie and Freddie loans in forbearance as of Friday, April 19 – representing 4.9 percent of their mortgages. Calabria made his original prediction of 300,000 on CNBC on April 1, prefacing them by saying they were very preliminary and may change: …
