Bank and thrift holdings of home-equity loans continue to decline, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database, with lenders hesitant to pursue new originations. The low interest rate environment for first liens has not particularly extended to HELs, with interest rates above 5.00 percent often offered to borrowers looking into a home-equity loan. Banks and thrifts held $1.14 trillion in home-equity lines-of-credit, HELOC commitments and closed-end second liens ... [Includes one data chart]

“Servicers are less likely to act on the first-lien mortgage owned by investors when they themselves own the second-lien mortgage secured by the same property,” according to a new study based on data collected by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency from 10 large bank servicers. The study confirms suspicions that bank servicers are conflicted regarding loss mitigation, particularly because their second-lien holdings continue to perform relatively well even as corresponding first liens have ...

Numerous small servicers submitted comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warning that proposed servicing rules will result in consolidation – to the benefit of large special servicers. The comment period on the proposed rules closed this week, with small servicers seeking exemptions from potential new servicing standards. The CFPB issued proposed servicing rules in August, some of which were required by the Dodd-Frank Act. Industry analysts suggest that large servicers will have fewer problems complying ...

Current efforts by numerous firms to establish a non-agency market for real estate owned rental securitizations are worthwhile, based on investor interest in the emerging sector. Investors are skeptical of REO rental assets but also willing to participate in the market, even without AAA ratings. “We look forward to being part of the discussions with issuers, investors and operators,” Youriy Koudinov, a director at TIAA-CREF, said this week during a seminar hosted by the American Securitization Forum. “As prudent ...

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will implement a new definition for subprime mortgages beginning April 1, 2013. The definition will apply to banks with assets of $10 billion or more as part of the FDIC’s Large Bank Pricing model, which determines deposit insurance rates. The reporting deadline was revealed this week as the FDIC published a final rule to determine Deposit Insurance Fund assessment rates for large and highly complex insured depository institutions. The rule was prompted after ...

Fitch Ratings completed a review of ratings of jumbo mortgage-backed securities last week, resulting in downgrades of 6 percent of outstanding jumbo MBS. The downgrades were concentrated on pre-2005 MBS. “Adverse selection and structural features vulnerable to tail-risk have increased negative rating pressure for seasoned jumbo MBS,” Fitch said. The rating service noted that 14 percent of jumbo MBS remains on watch for downgrade and a determination on the ratings is expected by the end ... [Includes two briefs]

While President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Gov. Mitt Romney, differ widely on key issues, both candidates appear to agree on the need to reduce the government’s role in housing and bring private capital back to the mortgage market, industry observers say. Nothing much has been said in public forums or in the first presidential debate (except for a brief mention of the “qualified mortgage” proposal) about the housing issue, but observers say their positions on FHA may not be far apart. Obama’s approach to the housing crisis is ...

Despite problems associated with the program, the FHA 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage Program has seen some modest production gains during the last few quarters, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA data. Top FHA 203(k) lenders reported $1.8 billion in total originations during the first six months of 2012, with the top five lenders accounting for 46.9 percent of production. Production rose 8.1 percent from the first quarter to the second, from $851.2 million to $920.5 million. Purchase fixer-uppers comprised ... [Includes 1 chart]

The FHA is starting to lose business to private mortgage insurers and the conventional mortgage market because it is no longer the cheaper alternative, a recent industry survey indicated. Numbers released by the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey show consumer preference for conventional home loans rising as a growing number of homebuyers, particularly current homeowners, used mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to finance home purchases in August. The survey noted that current homeowners increased their use of mortgages in June this year while investor participation began ...

A significant increase in the volume of claims following the announcement of the $25 billion joint servicer settlement earlier this year has created a huge backlog that could potentially threaten the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, warned the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General. Separate OIG audits of the five mortgage servicers that signed the groundbreaking settlement pact with federal agencies and state attorneys general in February found that if those servicers were to file all ...