The Corporation is authorized to purchase, and make commitments to purchase, residential mortgages. The Corporation may hold and deal with, and sell or otherwise dispose of, pursuant to commitments or otherwise, any such mortgage or interest therein. The operations of the Corporation under this section shall be confined so far as practicable to residential mortgages which are deemed by the Corporation to be of such quality, type, and class as to meet generally the purchase standards imposed by private institutional mortgage investors. The Corporation may establish requirements, and impose charges or fees, which may be regarded as elements of pricing, for different classes of sellers or servicers, and for such purposes the Corporation is authorized to classify sellers or servicers according to type, size, location, assets, or, without limitation on the generality of the foregoing, on such other basis or bases of differentiation as the Corporation may consider necessary or appropriate to effectuate the purposes or provisions of this chapter. The Corporation may specify requirements concerning among other things, (A) minimum net worth; (B) supervisory mechanisms; (C) warranty compensation mechanisms; (D) prior approval of facilities; (E) prior origination and servicing experience with respect to different types of mortgages; (F) capital contributions and substitutes; (G) mortgage purchase volume limits; and (H) reduction of mortgage purchases during periods of borrowing. With respect to any particular type of seller, the Corporation shall not be required to make available programs involving prior approval of mortgages, optional delivery of mortgages, and purchase of other than conventional mortgages to an extent greater than the Corporation elects to make such programs available to other types of eligible sellers. Any requirements specified by the Corporation pursuant to the preceding three sentences must bear a rational relationship to the purposes or provisions of this chapter, but will not be considered discriminatory solely on the grounds of differential effects on types of eligible sellers. Insofar as is practicable, the Corporation shall make reasonable efforts to encourage participation in its programs by each type of eligible seller. Nothing in this section authorizes the Corporation to impose any charge or fee upon any mortgagee approved by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for participation in any mortgage insurance program under the National Housing Act [12 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.] solely because of such status.

No conventional mortgage secured by a property comprising one- to four-family dwelling units shall be purchased under this section if the outstanding principal balance of the mortgage at the time of purchase exceeds 80 per centum of the value of the property securing the mortgage, unless (A) the seller retains a participation of not less than 10 per centum in the mortgage; (B) for such period and under such circumstances as the Corporation may require, the seller agrees to repurchase or replace the mortgage upon demand of the Corporation in the event that the mortgage is in default; or (C) that portion of the unpaid principal balance of the mortgage which is in excess of such 80 per centum is guaranteed or insured by a qualified insurer as determined by the Corporation. The Corporation shall not issue a commitment to purchase a conventional mortgage prior to the date the mortgage is originated, if such mortgage is eligible for purchase under the preceding sentence only by reason of compliance with the requirements of clause (A) of such sentence. The Corporation may purchase a conventional mortgage which was originated more than one year prior to the purchase date only if the seller is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Resolution Trust Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, or any other seller currently engaged in mortgage lending or investing activities. With respect to any transaction in which a seller contemporaneously sells mortgages originated more than one year old prior to the date of sale to the Corporation and receives in payment for such mortgages securities representing undivided interests only in those mortgages, the Corporation shall not impose any fee or charge upon an eligible seller which is not a member of a Federal Home Loan Bank which differs from that imposed upon an eligible seller which is such a member. The Corporation shall establish limitations governing the maximum original principal obligation of conventional mortgages that are purchased by it; in any case in which the Corporation purchases a participation interest in such a mortgage, the limitation shall be calculated with respect to the total original principal obligation of the mortgage and not merely with respect to the interest purchased by the Corporation. Such limitations shall not exceed $417,000 for a mortgage secured by a single-family residence, $533,850 for a mortgage secured by a 2-family residence, $645,300 for a mortgage secured by a 3-family residence, and $801,950 for a mortgage secured by a 4-family residence, except that such maximum limitations shall be adjusted effective January 1 of each year beginning after the effective date of the Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, subject to the limitations in this paragraph. Each adjustment shall be made by adding to each such amount (as it may have been previously adjusted) a percentage thereof equal to the percentage increase, during the most recent 12-month or 4-quarter period ending before the time of determining such annual adjustment, in the housing price index maintained by the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (pursuant to section 4542 of this title). If the change in such house price index during the most recent 12-month or 4-quarter period ending before the time of determining such annual adjustment is a decrease, then no adjustment shall be made for the next year, and the next adjustment shall take into account prior declines in the house price index, so that any adjustment shall reflect the net change in the house price index since the last adjustment. Declines in the house price index shall be accumulated and then reduce increases until subsequent increases exceed prior declines. The foregoing limitations may be increased by not to exceed 50 per centum with respect to properties located in Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands. Such foregoing limitations shall also be increased, with respect to properties of a particular size located in any area for which 115 percent of the median house price for such size residence exceeds the foregoing limitation for such size residence, to the lesser of 150 percent of such limitation for such size residence or the amount that is equal to 115 percent of the median house price in such area for such size residence.

The sale or other disposition by the Corporation of a mortgage under this section may be with or without recourse, and shall be upon such terms and conditions relating to resale, repurchase, guaranty, substitution, replacement, or otherwise as the Corporation may prescribe.

The Corporation is authorized to lend on the security of, and to make commitments to lend on the security of, any mortgage that the Corporation is authorized to purchase under this section. The volume of the Corporation’s lending activities and the establishment of its loan ratios, interest rates, maturities, and charges or fees in its secondary market operations under this paragraph, shall be determined by the Corporation from time to time; and such determinations shall be consistent with the objectives that the lending activities shall be conducted on such terms as will reasonably prevent excessive use of the Corporation’s facilities, and that the operations of the Corporation under this paragraph shall be within its income derived from such operations and that such operations shall be fully self-supporting. The Corporation shall not be permitted to use its lending authority under this paragraph (A) to advance funds to a mortgage seller on an interim basis, using mortgage loans as collateral, pending the sale of the mortgages in the secondary market; or (B) to originate mortgage loans. Notwithstanding any Federal, State, or other law to the contrary, the Corporation is hereby empowered, in connection with any loan under this paragraph, whether before or after any default, to provide by contract with the borrower for the settlement or extinguishment, upon default, of any redemption, equitable, legal, or other right, title, or interest of the borrower in any mortgage or mortgages that constitute the security for the loan; and with respect to any such loan, in the event of default and pursuant otherwise to the terms of the contract, the mortgages that constitute such security shall become the absolute property of the Corporation.