FHFA: U.S. House Prices Rise 1.3 Percent in Third Quarter 2018
U.S. house prices rose 1.3 percent in the third quarter of 2018 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI). House prices rose 6.3 percent from the third quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2018. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for September was up 0.2 percent from August. The…
FHFA: Maximum Conforming Loan Limits for 2019 Announced
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Baseline Limit Will Increase to $484,350 The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages to be acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2019. In most of the U.S., the 2019 maximum conforming loan limit for one-unit properties will be $484,350, an…
FHFA: Final Rule Issued Amending Federal Home Loan Banks’ Affordable Housing Program Regulation
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has published a final rule amending its regulation for the Federal Home Loan Banks’ (FHLBanks) Affordable Housing Program (AHP). The final rule provides additional flexibility at the local level for the FHLBanks, in consultation with their Advisory Councils, to allocate their AHP funds and to design their project selection…
FHFA: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Refinance Volume Decreases in Third Quarter 2018
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 253,135 refinances in the third quarter of 2018, compared with 299,460 in the second quarter. FHFA’s third quarter Refinance Report also shows that 1,865 loans were refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), bringing the total number of HARP…
FHFA: 2018 Performance and Accountability Report Released
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its Performance and Accountability Report, which details FHFA’s activities as regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank System and as regulator and conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during fiscal year 2018. For the tenth consecutive year, FHFA received an unmodified audit opinion on its FY…
FHFA: Progress Update on the Single Security Initiative and Common Securitization Platform for Uniform Mortgage-Backed Securities
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today published An Update on the Single Security Initiative (SSI) and the Common Securitization Platform (CSP) detailing activity and progress on the development of the CSP and toward the launch of a single, common security called the Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security (UMBS). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) and…
FHFA: 2019 Multifamily Lending Caps Announced for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced that the 2019 multifamily lending caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) will be $35 billion for each Enterprise, unchanged from the 2018 caps. The caps are based on FHFA’s projections of the overall size of the 2019 multifamily originations market, which FHFA expects to…
BCFP & FHFA: National Survey of Mortgage Originations Dataset Released for Public Use
The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released for public use a new loan-level dataset collected through the National Survey of Mortgage Originations (NSMO) that provides insights into borrowers’ experiences in getting a residential mortgage. The NSMO is a component of the National Mortgage Database (NMDB®), the…
FHFA: Progress Update on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Credit Risk Transfer Programs
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today issued a Credit Risk Transfer Progress Report describing the status and volume of credit risk transfer (CRT) transactions through the second quarter of 2018. The Report provides a comprehensive picture of how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) transfer a substantial portion of credit risk to the…
FHFA: Proposed Rule Issued on Federal Home Loan Bank Housing Goals
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking comments on proposed amendments to the existing regulation for the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) Housing Goals. The proposed rule would: Set a single prospective mortgage purchase housing goal as a share of each FHLBank’s total Acquired Member Asset (AMA) purchases; Set a new small member participation…