CONGRESS

advantage of programs to minimize foreclosures. Each
FPM is also required to report to Congress the number
and types of loan modifications and the number of foreclosures
during the reporting period. FHFA is a designated
FPM in its role as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac. FHFA delivered monthly and quarterly FPM reports
to Congress throughout the course of 2015.
House Price Index
FHFA further enhanced its suite of publicly available
house price indexes in 2015. In February, it initiated the
release of a series of home price indexes for three-digit ZIP
codes. Such indexes show price trends for homes having
the same first three digits in their respective five digit ZIP
codes. Because some mortgage datasets provide only the
three-digit ZIP code associated with the collateral property,
analyzing relevant home price trends and mortgage
default risks is facilitated by such measures.
FHFA’s publication of its other types of home price indexes—for
instance, its “all-transactions,” “purchase-only,”
and “expanded-data” measures—continued in 2015. Such
measures are estimated using different underlying datasets,
but all provide measures of price movements for various
geographic areas.
In May, FHFA sent to the Federal Register a Notice and
Request for Input on whether the Agency should use its
“expanded data” house price index as the basis for adjusting
the Enterprises’ conforming loan limits. The input
period closed 60 days after publication of the Notice and
in October FHFA sent a Final Notice to the Federal Register
indicating its intent to use the “expanded data” house
price index when setting maximum conforming loan limits.
Public Use Database
The Safety and Soundness Act requires FHFA to make
available to the public loan-level data submitted by the
Enterprises in the reports required under section 309(m)
of Fannie Mae’s Charter Act and section 307(e) of Freddie
Mac’s Charter Act, except for certain proprietary information
and personally identifiable information. FHFA
is required to make publicly available Enterprise data
elements analogous to those required to be reported by
mortgage originators under HMDA at the census tract
level. The Safety and Soundness Act also requires FHFA
to make public certain high-cost securitized loan data it
collects to compare the characteristics of high-cost loans
the Enterprises purchase and securitize. FHFA is required
to release the data by September 30 of the year following
the year the mortgages were acquired by the Enterprises.
During 2015, FHFA released this 2014 data to the public
through its Public Use Database.
Historical Database (MIRS)
Every month FHFA conducts the Monthly Interest Rate
Survey (MIRS) by asking a sample of mortgage lenders to
report the terms and conditions on all single-family, fullyamortized,
purchase-money, non-farm loans that they
closed during the last five business days of the month.
MIRS excludes FHA-insured and VA-guaranteed loans,
multifamily loans, mobile home loans, and loans created
by refinancing another mortgage. FHFA collects and consolidates
this data and then makes available to the public
monthly information on interest rates, loans terms, and
house prices by property type (all, new, previously occupied),
and by loan type (fixed- or adjustable-rate), as well
as information on 15-year and 30-year fixed-rate loans. In
addition, quarterly information on conventional loans by
major metropolitan area and by FHLBank district is also
published. FHFA also publishes annual and monthly data
from 1973 to 2015 on its website.
National Mortgage Database
Project
The National Mortgage Database (NMDB) project is a
multi-year project being jointly undertaken by FHFA and
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The project
is designed to provide a source of information about the
64 FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY