May 11, 2012
Latest from Inside Mortgage Finance
The retained portfolios of both GSEs fell by 5.4% from the previous quarter according to Inside MBS & ABS
Private MIs Hold Onto Gains in Market Share, Start 2012 Well Ahead of the Pace in Early 2011
Private mortgage insurers appear to be holding on to the gains in market share they began to accumulate in the middle of last year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. An estimated $108.61 billion of home mortgages originated in the first quarter of this year carried primary mortgage insurance, an increase of 9.4 percent from the previous quarter. That compared to a 3.8 percent drop in total single-family mortgage originations over that period. The apparent jump in primary MI market penetration to 28.2 percent is skewed somewhat by the process for...(Includes two data charts)
Pricing May Not Help Private MIs Make Further Gains on FHA, GSE Issues Still Key
Private MI officials say FHA pricing changes have helped the industry regain some market share from the agency, but future gains may depend on how the federal government eventually changes its role in the mortgage market. After its most recent pricing adjustment in April of this year, the FHA does not expect to make further changes in its insurance premiums, said Charles Coulter, deputy assistant secretary at the FHA, during this week’s secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. “We are an average pricer, and that alone creates opportunities” for private MIs, he said...
Genworth Cuts Prices, Expands Credit Guidelines to Boost Competitiveness
Genworth Financial this week announced some price and underwriting guideline adjustments aimed at reducing the cost of insurance for most mortgages and making the private mortgage insurer more competitive in the marketplace. Effective for applications received on or after May 14, Genworth is reducing monthly and single premium MI rates (borrower paid and lender paid), subject to state approvals. For monthly premium MI, rates are being lowered for all loans with loan-to-value ratios less than or equal to 95 percent. Rates for LTVs above 95 percent will remain the same, the company said, although new adjustments for...
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Inside Regulatory Strategies
CFPB Taking on Origination Points and Fees
Mortgage originator compensation has moved clearly into the crosshairs of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as part of a broader proposed rule expected soon that will also address originator qualifications as well as the paying of discount points and fees. Senior CFPB officials briefed the press last week on their plans, which will be shared in greater detail sometime next week with a group of small businesses related to the mortgage lending industry per the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. The act requires the bureau to convene a small business panel...
Inside FHA Lending
Beware of Conflicting FHA Rules, Standards
Mortgage servicers could find themselves in a quandary as they implement the national servicing standards outlined in the March foreclosure settlement agreement, especially if they run into conflicting FHA requirements. Compliance experts say that while many of the settlement standards could be carried out within the FHA program without being at odds with existing FHA requirements, conflicts do exist with the guidelines that cannot be resolved. Even when it is technically possible to comply with both FHA guidelines and the settlement standards, it is still going to ...
Inside Nonconforming Markets
Non-Agency Market Dwarfed by GSEs, Industry Looks for Ways to Move Ahead
“The private market will never come back if the best deal for the private investor is the government,” Lewis Ranieri, chairman and founding partner of Ranieri Partners, said this week at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Secondary Market Conference in New York City. Talk at the conference focused on almost anything other than activity in the non-agency market. David Stevens, president and CEO of the MBA, said dealing with repurchase issues ...
Inside MBS & ABS
Mortgage Bankers Push for Common MBS ‘Currency’ Making Fannie and Freddie MBS Interchangeable
The Mortgage Bankers Association is pushing a proposal to change the remittance schedule on Freddie Mac participation certificates and make them fully fungible with Fannie Mae pass-through MBS for good delivery under to-be-announced guidelines. The proposal would address the historical discount to Fannie MBS at which Freddie securities trade, said MBA President Dave Stevens during the group’s National Secondary Market Conference in New York this week. Freddie PCs typically trade 1 or 1.5 points behind Fannie MBS, a difference that Freddie Mac – and ultimately U.S. taxpayers, now that the government-sponsored...
Inside Mortgage Trends
Gains in Mortgage Banking Profits Widespread in 2012 First Quarter
Nearly all major lenders have reported increased earnings from their mortgage banking activities during the first quarter of 2012, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of earnings reports from 25 companies. As a group, the 25 public companies posted an impressive $7.606 billion in mortgage banking income during the first three months of 2012. That was up 39.0 percent from the $5.471 billion these same firms earned over the final three months of 2011, and it was a huge 177.4 percent increase over the first quarter of last year. The group’s first-quarter mortgage banking...(Includes one data chart)
Inside The GSEs
FHFA Feud Over GSE Writedowns Intensifies
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is still mulling over accepting principal reduction payments from the Treasury Department even as the debate between the factions for and against GSE loan writedowns is quickly dissolving into a partisan food fight. This week, two ranking House Republicans urged FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco to stand fast against mounting political pressure directed at him by the Congressional allies of the Obama administration as House Democrats took the gloves off, accusing the Finance Agency of falsely withholding pertinent information about the agency’s principal reduction analysis.
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Most Popular Stories
- Private MIs Hold Onto Gains in Market Share, Start 2012 Well Ahead of the Pace in Early 2011
- Federal Court Finds Fannie Not a Government Entity in Firing Lawsuit
- Inside Mortgage Finance Full Issue May 11, 2012 (PDF)
- Gains in Mortgage Banking Profits Widespread in 2012 First Quarter
- Mortgage Originations Slow Modestly in Rapidly Changing Market of Early 2012
