Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will reduce the upfront fee for commingled securities to 9.375 basis points starting April 1, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said today. The agency introduced the fee last year at 50 basis points, sparking criticism from industry groups that said it threatened to weaken the Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security market. FHFA said the decision to reduce the fee came after considering “a variety of views on the fee and its potential impacts.”
In a separate statement, FHFA announced further changes to both GSEs’ single-family pricing framework by introducing redesigned and recalibrated upfront fee matrices for purchase, rate-term refinance and cash-out refinance loans. The updated fees will take effect for deliveries and acquisitions beginning May 1.
