The U.S. mortgage market produced an estimated $580.0 billion of first-lien originations during the third quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. That was up 13.7 percent from the second quarter, and it marked the strongest origination cycle since the fourth quarter of 2012, when $584.0 billion of new loans flowed through the pipes. The robust third quarter brought year-to-date originations to $1.470 trillion, up 8.9 percent from the first nine months of 2015. Lender feedback and agency mortgage-backed securities data suggest...[Includes two data tables]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac featured new technologies aimed at streamlining the loan production process and further limiting lender repurchase risk during this week’s annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Boston. Top officials of the two government-sponsored enterprises said that 2017 will bring further efforts to expand affordable housing opportunities, a theme underscored by their chief regulator. Melvin Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said...
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray said agency examiners are conducting “transaction testing” to assess compliance with new TRID disclosure rules. Looking at loan files is necessary to a diagnostic compliance assessment, he told a good-sized audience at this week’s annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. The bureau chief repeated earlier assertions that TRID compliance reviews would be “diagnostic and corrective, not punitive.” Cordray said...
Late this week or early next, Ginnie Mae is expected to release a new and improved acknowledgement agreement, a move intended to allow nonbanks to borrow more easily against the asset value of their mortgage servicing rights. But the big question remains: Will the agency’s tweaks have much of an impact on liquidity? There is...
The share of home sales that experienced a delayed closing because of appraisal-related issues remained elevated in September, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Industry participants suggest that the strong market for purchase mortgages has led to a backlog of appraisals. Appraisal issues accounted...