Massachusetts will not join other states in the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s, but instead will conduct its own fraud probe tied to CDO ratings.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's share of purchase-mortgage originations has increased each of the last two years, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends.
Wells Fargo remained the top mortgage servicer in the industry at the end of 2012, but the company posted a rare decline in its portfolio during the fourth quarter and is reportedly considering selling some of its massive $1.873 trillion portfolio. A new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis of the servicing market underscores the gains made in market share by a handful of nonbanks and some regional banks, while some of the top servicers continue to pare their businesses. The servicing industry faces a significant challenge in that increased regulatory requirements are raising operational costs at a time when the overall market continues to decline. On the upside, much of the damage from the housing recession has already occurred...[Includes one data chart]
FHA single-family mortgage production was up 22.3 percent in 2012, but another increase in the mortgage insurance premiums will likely accelerate the program’s three-year decline in market share. The Department of Housing and Urban Development late last week issued formal guidance to raise the annual MIP by another 10 basis points, taking effect for loans processed after April 1. It marks the fifth time HUD has raised FHA premiums in the past three years and raises the annual MIP to as much as 155 bps, for super-jumbo loans exceeding $625,500 with loan-to-value ratios over 95 percent and 30-year terms. That’s actually a relatively small slice of the FHA market: super-jumbo loans (which have...[Includes one data chart]
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week mulled over how to strengthen the shaky financial condition of the FHA single-family insurance fund and reduce the risk to taxpayers of another government bailout, while shrinking the agency’s market footprint without disrupting the market’s fragile recovery. Partisan differences were immediately on display, predictably, as Republicans slammed the agency while Democrats defended it. “If the FHA was...
Although mortgage bankers are enjoying their strongest profit margins in years, smaller nonbank shops continue to live in fear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – under the auspices of their regulator – may soon unveil higher net-worth minimums. Officially, the net-worth minimum is set at $2.5 million for both government-sponsored enterprises, although Fannie Mae has imposed volume limits on some newly approved seller/servicers that have posted big increases in their sales to the GSE. Several industry executives and their outside advisors fully expect...
Republican critics of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are maneuvering to take advantage of a sudden opportunity to push for changes to the leadership structure and the finances of the bureau, after a surprise legal ruling breathed new life into their long-running struggle to clip the new agencyfs wings. Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in Noel Canning v. National Labor Relations Board that three recess appointments President Obama made to the NLRB were unconstitutional because the Senate was technically not in recess at the time they were made. Industry lawyers believe...
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