good charts and commentary – Outlook for mortgage rates – Scott Grannis – … This chart shows the 26-year relationship between Fannie Mae collateral and 10-yr Treasury yields, with the spread on the bottom. Note that the spread has averaged about 125 bps, and currently stands at about 70. The spread has rarely traded at less than 100 bps, which suggests that Fed purchases may have caused spreads to tighten by 30-55 bps. … – Calafia Beach Pundit
————
end of MBS purchase program – How High Will Mortgage Rates Go? – by Paul Smalera – MoneyWatch at Bnet
————
A Better Method of Detecting Housing Bubbles – Ironman at Political Calculations – .. We think we’ve developed a better method, which is in part based upon our observations of age and income driven spending. What we found is that personal spending for housing was a very strong function of personal income. … – Seeking Alpha
————
Housing Upturn Proves Elusive – By Ben Steverman – Despite some signs of improvement, pessimism abounds about the U.S. housing market. The top worry: the withdrawal of government stimulus in the next few months – BusinessWeek
————
+ 
Freddie Mac Abandons Ship on Interest-Only Loans – By Nick Timiraos – Freddie Mac said on Friday that it would stop buying and securitizing interest-only loans in September because those mortgages have performed so poorly. – WSJ Blogs
and
Freddie Mac: Final Nail in the Coffin of Interest Only Mortgages? – … At last count, Freddie had $130 billion in unpaid principal on these IO loans or 7% of their overall portfolio. Of those loans, 18% of them are considered seriously delinquent or more than 90 days past due. Only at a government sponsored “zombie” would it take $23.4 billion in delinquencies to discover that the business should stop exposing itself to the same risks again and again. … – Ockham Research
————
Guest Post: Mortgage Rates – Only One Way to Go – Submitted By Michael Panzner – … . Assuming it ends on March 31st as planned, the laws of supply-and-demand would seem to indicate that the MBS market is headed for a heap of trouble. Why? The Fed has been the biggest buyer of residential mortgage-backed securities by far over the past year or so. That means yields and/or spreads on mortgage-related borrowings have only one way to go. … – Zero Hedge
————
Obama May Ban Foreclosures, Further Decrees To Follow – Tom Lindmark – Look, I’m not a card carrying member of the Tea Party and I’m not an uber-conservative, but who the Hell does Obama think he is? When did we mutate from a country of laws to one driven by government fiat. OK, I’m overreacting to this story. It’s from Bloomberg and it goes like this: … – But Then What Blog
————
on FDIC proposal – Mortgage Principal Paydowns Possible? – In my previous post about the fundamentals of the housing market I suggested that the next thing to come from the government would be the paydown of mortgage principals to keep individuals from walking away. – Surly Trader
————
What happens to house prices when the Fed stops buying MBS? – Felix Salmon – … What does this mean for house prices? Let’s say I have an $80,000 income and a $20,000 downpayment. According to this calculator, at 5% mortgage rates I can afford $279,075 of house. At 6%, that figure drops to $257,780 — a 7.6% fall. And at 6.5%, it’s $248,034 — a drop of more than 11%. And that’s assuming that I have no car or credit-card payments to make. … – Reuters Blogs
————
Some Thoughts on Fannie’s Horrible Year – by Bruce Krasting – … For those economists out there that are scratching their heads as to why they missed by a mile on their expectations of New and Existing home sales last month they need only look at this report for an explanation. It is harder to get a mortgage today than it was a year ago, It will be harder to get a mortgage in one month from today and even harder to get one six moths from today. For me the implications of this are very obvious. Broad RE values will have to go lower, high-end homes will suffer the most in percentage drops. Consider the following slide. … – Zero Hedge
————
Bump in one county’s home prices raises hope that market is stabilizing – By Paul Owers – South Florida’s troubled housing market finally is showing signs of hitting bottom. Or at least getting close. – S. Fla. Sun Sentinel
————
Many borrowers in default stay put as lenders delay evictions – By Alana Semuel – Despite being months behind, many strapped residents are hanging on to their homes, essentially living rent-free. Pressure on banks to modify loans and a glut of inventory are driving the trend. – LA Times Business
————
FHFA Extends Refinance Program By One Year – Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Ed DeMarco today announced the extension of the Home Affordable Refinance Program, (HARP), a refinancing program administered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to June 30, 2011. – FHFA Press Release