Ginnie Mae issuers produced $36.68 billion of new single-family mortgage-backed securities last month, a modest 5.0 percent gain from July, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis and ranking. Through the first eight months of the year, Ginnie issuance was down 11.0 percent from the same period in 2017. The MBS figures do not include FHA home-equity conversion mortgages, and loan amounts are truncated to the lowest $1,000. Purchase mortgages accounted for 75.6 percent of new issuance in August, although volume was up just 1.9 percent from July’s level. On a year-to-date basis, the purchase-mortgage share rose from 65.7 percent in 2017 to 70.0 percent for the first eight months of this year. Total volume, however, was down 5.1 percent. The refinance market has been more wobbly. As of the end of August, refi volume totaled $65.87 billion, down 26.2 percent from the ... [Chart]

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage originations fell dramatically in the second quarter, raising the possibility of a long reverse-mortgage winter in 2018, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of HECM data. HECM production fell a whopping 40.9 percent in the second quarter from the previous period. Total HECM originations stood at $8.6 billion by the six-month mark, down 8.3 percent from the prior year. Traditional HECMs, which exclude purchases and refinances, accounted for 80.5 percent of FHA-insured reverse mortgages originated during the first half of 2018. The amount of funds available at loan origination for the first six months totaled $4.7 billion. Analysts blame the low HECM originations on the new lower Principal Limit Factors (PLFs) for HECMs, which became effective in FY 2018. Under the HECM final rule issued last year by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, principal limits [Chart]

Industry participants and the Treasury Department want the Federal Communications Commission to change its rules to help servicers communicate with borrowers without the threat of costly fines.

Any changes to the Community Reinvestment Act should strengthen – not weaken – banks’ obligations to meet the needs of minority and low-income communities and expand access to mortgage credit in historically redlined areas, said civil rights and consumer advocacy groups.

The nation’s PMIs have made a significant dent in the first-timer market, insuring a greater volume of mortgages guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie…

Peters departed First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. earlier this year...

The weighted-average coupon is 6.50 percent.

Finding a suitable candidate could prove difficult because of a $600,000 salary cap placed on the position by Congress back in 2015.

First-time homebuyers accounted for over half of the purchase-money mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae during the second quarter of 2018, according to a new analysis of mortgage-backed securities data by Inside Mortgage Finance. [Includes four data charts.]

Mortgage lenders that rely on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for liquidity have a simple message for policymakers in Washington regarding what to do about the government-sponsored enterprises: Leave them alone. The two are working just fine.