Guaranty-fee income increased in 2015 at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac despite the fact that average g-fees on new business acquisitions were down slightly. The two government-sponsored enterprises reported a combined $17.33 billion in net income for all of last year, a 20.9 percent drop from 2014. However, g-fee income at the two GSEs was up 8.2 percent from 2014 to 2015, and continued to account for a growing share of their income as their investment portfolios shrank. G-fee income did not climb...

Many small and medium-sized nonbanks have been earning steady profits the past three years, but all that ended in the fourth quarter of 2015, thanks to the integrated disclosure rule known as TRID. At least that’s what some warehouse managers told Inside Mortgage Finance. These credit executives, who spoke under the condition their names not be used, were somewhat surprised by the development, but were quick to caution that about a third of their clients posted losses. The managers also noted...

All three mortgage-production channels saw significant declines in volume during the fourth quarter of 2015, but the retail business fared significantly better, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Correspondent production fell 25.5 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of last year, compared to the overall 15.4 percent drop in mortgage originations over that period. The correspondent channel typically yields a higher share of purchase mortgages than either retail or wholesale-broker production, so it was relatively more impacted by the decline in purchase-mortgage lending. Still, correspondent production for all of 2015 was...[Includes four data tables]

"Assuming we achieve our cost, volume and other business objectives, and the market unfolds as forecast, we expect core earnings before notable items to be breakeven to modestly profitable for 2016," said CEO Glen Messina.

Originators that fund billions of dollars each quarter use futures and options to hedge their pipelines. It’s the smaller players that may have encountered secondary-market charges.

Suddenly, mortgage firms left and right are buying back common stock in the open market...

Mortgage product innovation could be dead thanks to a new policy from the CFPB...

In the wholesale/broker channel, United Wholesale was the volume leader for the year…

Roughly 60 percent of the nonbank's fourth quarter originations came through the consumer-direct channel.

Roughly 88 percent of lenders plan to grow their origination business this year, and many – 67 percent – will either increase the number of retail branches or add loan officers.