Negative home equity is not an important barrier for a homeowner to decide to move elsewhere for a better job, although underwater homeowners are probably more likely to move than borrowers with equity in their homes, according to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. The study presents evidence debunking the theory that homes with underwater mortgages deter unemployed people from moving to get new jobs. The “lock-in” theory holds that unemployed people with negative equity could ...

First-time homebuyers accounted for 33 percent of all GSE-securitized purchase mortgages in the first half, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.

Jumbo originations increased at First Republic Bank, but its mortgage gain-on-sale margin took a hit.

The non-cash share of home-purchase financing increased to 71 percent in June from 67 percent in February, based on the three-month moving average.

Flagstar hopes to unload $30 billion in residential servicing rights, but is contemplating selling even more in the way of MSRs.

Three years ago Cole Taylor Bank had no presence in the mortgage market until Willie Newman joined the bank and started a residential division.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Ranking Minority Member Mike Crapo, R-ID, have released a draft FHA solvency bill that is far less ambitious than legislation proposed by House GOP leaders last week. The Senate bill, the FHA Solvency Act of 2013, would essentially shore up the existing FHA program by allowing higher mortgage insurance premiums and requiring a bigger capital buffer. The housing finance reform bill introduced by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, would significantly change the FHA program by narrowing its focus and limiting the depth of coverage it provides. The draft Senate bill contains...

The purchase-mortgage market in the first half of 2013 has shown solid gains over the same per-iod last year, especially in a handful of booming state markets, but different lenders are having widely varying success getting on top of the wave. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan-level data shows that 20.2 percent of single-family mortgages securitized by the two government-sponsored enterprises in the first half of the year were purchase-mortgage loans, and total volume was up 31.1 percent from the same time last year. First-time homebuyers accounted...[Includes two data charts]

The high-stakes game of chicken Congressional Democrats and Republicans have been playing for the better part of the last two years over President Obama’s nomination of Richard Cordray to be director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau came to an end this week as GOP members of the Senate blinked first. On Tuesday, the Republicans agreed to allow an up-or-down vote on Cordray to avert a showdown over longstanding filibuster rules in the Senate. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, has been threatening to upend the Senate’s traditional filibuster mechanism and change the rule under which presidential nominees must receive 60 votes in order to be approved. Cordray’s nomination to a full five-year term was approved...

Wells Fargo increased its residential servicing portfolio by a meager 2 percent in the second quarter but marked up the asset value of its mortgage servicing rights by a mouth-watering 18 percent, a clear sign that it feels comfortable about both improving delinquencies and higher interest rates. The nation’s largest lender/servicer was hardly alone among the nation’s megabanks, all of which reported higher market values on MSR remaining principal balances that were mostly unchanged. Bank of America reported...