Thanks to strong growth in the agency market, the supply of single-family MBS outstanding continued to grow over the final three months of 2016, a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis reveals.

An interview this week with Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital and a perennial critic of the Federal Reserve, suggests that the extraordinary level of support the U.S. central bank gave to the housing and mortgage markets in the wake of the financial crisis may mean the Fed is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The three major credit bureaus plan to exclude two critical pieces of negative information from their reports, which may make it easier for some borrowers to qualify for a mortgage.

A program launched in September to provide grants to mortgage brokers has helped launch 15 new independent mortgage brokerage shops, according to the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.

Appraisers are most frustrated with the FHA, excessive regulations and insufficient compensation, according to a National Association of Realtors survey of more than 2,000 appraisers.

A new study by LendingTree said that Pittsburgh tops the list of cities for millennial homebuyers with 48.4 percent of all purchase mortgage requests coming from that demographic.

The retail channel remains the predominant source of jumbo originations, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of survey responses collected by Inside Mortgage Finance. Among the top jumbo lenders, more than four out of five jumbos originated during the fourth quarter of 2016 were through the retail channel. The 81.6 percent retail share of jumbo originations was up from a 79.3 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2015 ... [Includes one data chart]

For the second time in five months, mortgages aggregated by Bank of America will be included in a jumbo mortgage-backed security. In both instances, BofA has sold loans to New Penn Financial, with an affiliate of New Penn issuing the MBS. The $280.38 million Shellpoint Co-Originator Trust 2017-1 is scheduled to close at the end of this month. Mortgages aggregated by BofA account for 98.7 percent of the dollar volume of the MBS, according to presale reports by Kroll Bond Rating Agency and ...

Bank and thrift holdings of first-lien portfolios continued to increase at the end of 2016, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of bank and thrift call reports. Banks and thrifts held $1.93 trillion in first liens at the end of the year, up 0.4 percent from the third quarter of 2016 and up 3.4 percent from the end of 2015. New additions to the portfolios are generally jumbo mortgages along with some loans eligible for sale to the government- ... [Includes one data chart]

Galton Funding, a new entrant to the jumbo mortgage-backed security market, allows for jumbos with somewhat looser underwriting criteria than typically used in jumbo MBS issued in recent years. The company noted that its programs are aimed at “underserved” borrowers. Moody’s Investors Service said Galton has two prime loan programs: A+ and A. Both allow for more lenient underwriting than other prime jumbo programs and instead align in some instances with ...