Nonbank lenders accounted for nearly half (48.7 percent) of the single-family mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis of mortgage-backed securities disclosures. The nonbank share of new GSE business has been on a steady march higher over the past few years as the top tier of depository institutions has repositioned their mortgage strategies and more lenders have participated directly in the securitization process. Back in 2013, nonbanks accounted for just 31.0 percent of new Fannie/Freddie business. The momentum did slow somewhat in 2015, however. After boosting their aggregate share by 12.9 percentage points to 43.9 percent in 2014, the nonbank...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of the Inspector General determined that the agency failed to properly oversee the GSEs’ single-family mortgage underwriting standards and variances. As a result, the OIG has reopened its recommendation from a previous audit report until the FHFA proves it has fully implemented the proper oversight. …
The flow of new mortgages delivered to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined by 19.9 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of 2015, and a larger share of them came from third-party originators, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of mortgage-backed securities data. The two government-sponsored enterprises securitized $179.01 billion of single-family mortgages during the fourth quarter of last year. Although the biggest factor ... [Includes two data charts]
A recent appeals court ruling demonstrates that courts will look to contract terms between correspondent lenders and loan purchasers when determining the validity of buyback claims. In CitiMortgage v. Chicago Bancorp, the loan purchaser prevailed, with judges noting that the correspondent seller breached the contract by refusing to cure or repurchase loans. The two firms had a contract under which Citi agreed to buy mortgages underwritten or originated by Chicago Bancorp ...
Due diligence provider American Mortgage Consultants recently purchased the like-minded JCIII & Associates for an undisclosed sum, a transaction that could be a harbinger of additional consolidation in the sector. In fact, market sources contend that eventually American Mortgage Consultants will hit the auction block too – it’s just a matter of when. According to one due diligence source, the purchase of JCIII helps AMC build “critical mass,” which will attract buyers or at least ...
It’s not too late for lenders to catch the home-equity lending wave, which has rebounded after the housing market collapse and steadily gathered strength for well over a year now, according to Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic. “Home-equity lending, for years the red-headed stepchild of our industry, is coming back into favor, thanks to the growth in equity that millions of American homeowners are experiencing, and the improving economy,” Khater said ...
RealtyTrac recently launched a beta version of a new tool that it hopes will become the “Carfax” of the residential home market by telling the homebuyer as well as the lender all the foibles of a residential property. The product’s official name is Home Disclosure and it promises consumers a comprehensive view of a property that they plan to buy or rent in the future. Current property owners, as well as lenders, can access the information as well. The report is broken down into ...
The legalization of marijuana has had a lucrative impact on Colorado’s economy, increasing tax receipts to the state. But housing professionals aren’t quite sure if the pot “boom” is also responsible for driving up home values. “We don’t have current statistics related to that industry,” said Kelly Moye, a spokesperson for the Colorado Association of Realtors. According to Moye, that’s partly why it’s difficult to attribute the increase in home prices to the booming weed market. But Moye notes ...
Mortgage lenders became gradually more pessimistic about profit margins in 2015, according to Fannie Mae’s most recent lender sentiment survey. In the fourth-quarter survey, 42 percent of respondents expected profit margins to shrink over the next three months. Back in the first quarter of 2015, only 10 percent were in that camp, though the group grew to 25 percent in the second and 38 percent in the third quarters of last year. A minority (13 percent) said they expect margins to ...