Community banks continue to raise concerns about how regulations are hampering mortgage originations, according to the results of a survey by state regulators. While some community banks have ceased originations, lending data and forward-looking projections suggest that community banks have adapted to the post-crisis regulatory environment. The Federal Reserve and Conference of State Bank Supervisors released a report late last week detailing a survey of 868 banks with $10 billion or less in total assets. Single-family mortgages were named as a primary line of businesses by 69 percent of the surveyed banks in 2015, down from a 75 percent share last year. “Considerable variation in mortgage market conditions was reported...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has skimped in its oversight of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s budgets, in most cases not approving them until well after the start of the government-sponsored enterprises’ fiscal years, according to the Inspector General of the FHFA. The FHFA’s budget review and approval process for Fannie and Freddie is seriously flawed and plagued with cursory-level analysis and inadequate resources, the IG said. The agency generally agreed with the IG report and overhauled its budget-review process in July 2015. The IG noted...

The results of a new survey conducted for NeighborWorks America suggest that student loan debt is an obstacle for a growing share of potential homebuyers. The congressionally chartered organization with a focus on housing counseling also found confusion among potential homebuyers regarding the mortgage market. Some 57 percent of respondents said student loan debt was an obstacle to purchasing a home, up from a 49 percent share last year. The survey involved 1,000 adults. And 76 percent of respondents with student debt said the homebuying process is complicated, up from a 70 percent share in 2014. The greatest obstacle for potential homebuyers continues...

Roughly 45 percent of FHA-insured, first-lien purchase mortgages had annual percentage rates in excess of the reporting threshold...

The former CFPB official said non-W-2 borrowers – like the self-employed, retirees and people with seasonal income – account for 30 to 40 percent of applicants for jumbo mortgages...

Like many banks that have had run-ins with the DOJ and HUD IG, Fifth Third's FHA volume has fallen dramatically.

In general, IBM has rarely talked to the media about Seterus and its contract with the government-sponsored enterprise, or much else, for that matter.

It appears that lenders were encouraging their loan officers to get applications in before the Oct. 3 implementation of the new RESPA-TILA integrated disclosure rule.

When the news broke about Stonegate this past summer, FBR issued a note to its clients saying that, “We expect the company has two options: hire a replacement CEO quickly, or sell the business altogether.”

The flow of FHA purchase mortgages jumped 37.7 percent from the second to the third quarter, and VA purchase mortgages rose 37.9 percent over the same period.