Real estate investment trusts that focus on the residential MBS market reported a modest increase in their portfolios during the second quarter of 2017. The 15 mortgage REITs tracked by Inside MBS & ABS held a combined $233.34 billion of residential MBS at the end of June. That was up 1.4 percent from the end of the first quarter, though down 2.9 percent from the midway point in 2016. Ten of the REITs reported...[Includes one data table]
The private mortgage insurance business saw a jump in its share of the primary MI market during the second quarter, and all six active firms racked up solid gains in earnings, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. Private MIs reported $70.65 billion in new primary MI written through traditional flow business activity during the second quarter. That was up 38.4 percent from the first three months of the year, though still slightly below the pace set in late 2016. Meanwhile, the government-insurance market faltered...[Includes two data tables]
It’s safe to say that CFPB Director Richard Cordray has been one of the most controversial financial regulators to work in Washington, D.C. for quite some time...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that mortgage underwriters are not “administrative employees” and, therefore, not exempt from the overtime protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The court’s ruling in McKeen-Chaplin v. Provident Savings Bank overturned a lower court decision and deepened a split among the circuit courts on whether certain employees of mortgage companies qualify for overtime pay. Given the conflicting circuit court opinions, attorneys are...
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its housing-finance reform proposal would likely have little impact on consumer mortgage costs. Whether costs to consumers are modestly higher or lower will depend on how the different components suggested for reform are determined through the political process, according to the MBA. “While the precise impact on consumer costs from true housing-finance reform may be difficult to gauge, we know...
Purchase mortgages are getting to be a tougher sell as many potential homebuyers say high prices make it a lousy time to buy a house, and sellers are getting less enthusiastic as well. A Fannie Mae survey found that the share of people surveyed who said it was a bad time to buy reached a high of 57 percent in July, while the share who said it was a good time to buy hit a low, 34 percent. The government-sponsored enterprise has been conducting the survey since 2011. “It’s...
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt said it will be at least two years until Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will adopt alternative credit scoring models. A number of groups have been pushing the government-sponsored enterprises to look beyond the FICO score, and Fannie and Freddie have been studying the issue. But Watt said any major change will have to wait until the GSEs have completed the complex single-security project. “Based on the overwhelming feedback we have received from the industry, it is...
Ocwen Financial caught a potentially big break last week when the judge overseeing its dispute with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau granted its request to invite the Department of Justice to weigh in. “There are at least two clear reasons to invite the Attorney General to participate here,” the company told Judge Kenneth Marra, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. First, it noted, district courts are required to notify the attorney general of a constitutional challenge in any action in which the U.S. government is not a party. Second, the U.S. attorney general recently filed...
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