Mortgage origination volume was up substantially in all product categories during the second quarter, but the government-insured market posted the biggest gain, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. Mortgage lenders produced an estimated $125.0 billion of government-insured home loans during the second quarter, up 19.0 percent from the first three months of the year. That nudged the government-insured share of the market up to 27.5 percent, the highest it’s been since early 2010. In the immediate aftermath of the housing-market meltdown, jumbo and nonprime production was depressed significantly, boosting the shares of government and conventional-conforming production. FHA and VA production typically gains...[Includes two data tables]
A California nonbank is in the market with an excess servicing deal tied to an $11 billion Ginnie Mae portfolio, according to investment bankers familiar with the auction process. Sources contend the sale is being managed in part by Andrew Platt, a former managing director at MountainView Capital Group, Denver, a firm that’s an active broker of servicing rights. Platt now serves as vice chairman of Sprout Mortgage, a nonprime lender based in Henderson, NV. The deal is...
The issue of whether the Federal Housing Finance Agency will alter the dividend payments Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pay the Treasury Department became a bit more complicated this month when agency Director Mel Watt hinted in correspondence he’s unlikely to make a change. But despite such a sentiment being expressed in a letter to the National Association of Realtors, there continues to be a school of thought among certain lobbyists and trade group officials that a change is coming. “I still think...
Members of Congress have left Washington, DC, for their summer recess, and mortgage industry representatives are using the time to plan strategy and educate lawmakers on key issues to help propel a number of measures across the finish line before the year ends. The most time-sensitive issues are reauthorizing the national flood insurance program and setting budgets for FHA and Ginnie Mae activity in fiscal 2018, which begins Oct. 1, 2017. Lawmakers will be looking to deal with these in September. Authority for the National Flood Insurance Program expires...
Mortgage closings moved out of the office years ago to places more convenient for borrowers. Now, technology allows closing to occur without all the parties being present in the same place. United Wholesale Mortgage claims to be the first lender to have completed a “virtual e-closing” with a refinance that closed at the end of July. The lender allowed the borrowers and notary to use webcam technology and electronically sign all of the closing documents. Previously, lenders offering e-closings have required some in-person contact with a notary to e-sign closing documents. “This ultimately eliminates...
Mortgage industry groups cannot seem to agree on whether there should be more than two guarantors of conventional mortgage-backed securities once Congress and the White House figure out what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Mortgage Bankers Association firmly supports multiple guarantors, arguing that more competition is better. But groups representing smaller lenders worry about the burden of maintaining relationships with many secondary-market outlets and the potential for an uneven playing field. David Stevens, president and CEO of the MBA, said...
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