Mortgage brokers and their wholesale funders gained some share in the FHA/VA market during the first quarter of 2018, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis. Survey data collected by Inside Mortgage Finance show that all three production channels took big hits in FHA/VA volume in early 2018. The $49.11 billion in government-insured lending reported by participating lenders was down 20.7 percent from the previous quarter and 10.8 percent below the volume the group generated in the first three months of 2017. Correspondent production remained the biggest source of FHA/VA loans, accounting for 53.5 percent of the survey sample in the first quarter. But production through this channel was down 22.2 percent from the previous three-month period, a slightly larger decline than seen overall. Four of the top five lenders in the group have strong correspondent platforms, especially ... [Chart]

A commercial bank buying a large mortgage company? Yes, indeed...

Seventy-one percent of lenders said borrowers with gig-economy income have applied for a mortgage within the past year...

First-time buyers continue to fight the challenges of rising house prices, higher interest rates and depleted inventory…

The REIT was vague when describing what the cash will be used for, sticking to the standard line about using the proceeds for “general corporate purposes.”

Purchase-mortgage lending, like virtually every other component of the home-loan market, was down in the first quarter of 2018. But first-time buyers continued to fight the challenges of rising house prices, higher interest rates and depleted inventory, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of agency mortgage-backed securities data. [Includes four data charts.]

The number of homes sold to first-time homebuyers fell in the first quarter of 2018, indicating that the market’s rapid growth in recent years may be over and that slower production with occasional pullbacks may be expected in the future, according to Genworth Mortgage Insurance.

Roughly 95 percent of FAMC's production comes from brokers and correspondents, according to Inside Mortgage Finance...

Subservicers increased their base of contracts to $2.19 trillion in the first quarter, a modest 3.3 percent sequential gain, according to survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. Compared to the same period a year earlier, contracts increased by 15.3 percent. [Includes one data chart.]

The interim chief of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said at an industry meeting in Washington, DC, this week that he is paying close attention to what the agency cannot do.