Property characteristics and appraisals have accounted for an increasing share of the issues that delay closing of purchase mortgages, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage FinanceHousingPulse Tracking Survey. Real estate agents participating in the survey cited property issues as causing 22.5 percent of closing delays in January, based on a three-month moving average. That’s up from a 16.5 percent share as recently as October. The increase appears...

Falling interest rates tripped up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the fourth quarter, indirectly leading to sharp declines in profitability despite continuing gains in their key mortgage-backed securities guaranty fee operations. Together, the two government-sponsored enterprises earned $1.54 billion in net income during the fourth quarter of 2014, down 74.3 percent from the previous quarter. With their retained portfolios in shrinkage mode, net interest income was down 11.9 percent from 2013. The big factor was...

As Republican leaders in Congress stake out hard-line positions on structural changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Democrats are responding by digging in their heels, raising the prospects of more gridlock. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, recently stated his desire to pull the CFPB within the orbit of the congressional appropriations process. He is also interested in changing the leadership structure of the bureau from a single director to a governing board. Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, D-OR, and other Democrats are opposed...

Ocwen Financial – once deemed the fastest-growing residential servicer in the nation – is now facing huge shrinkage and is undergoing what some analysts and investment bankers are now calling a managed or “controlled” liquidation. The questions facing investors and business partners of the company is how fast can Ocwen shrink and what will be left for shareholders other than a pile of cash. “This could be...

Closing delays related to appraisals, title search, insurance and property inspections have all increased in terms of market share in recent months, led by appraisal issues.

Although Walter Investment Management lost a ton of dough in 2014, it sees brighter days ahead...

The fourth quarter was Nationstar’s worst production quarter of the year.

However, the broker channel generated $117 billion of new originations, the lowest reading since 1995.

CMG Mortgage is the top contributor to the jumbo MBS with a 14.3 percent share, followed by EverBank Financial (8.3 percent) and Bridgeview Bancorp (5.7 percent).

Walter's cash-flow declined noticeably: For the full year, revenues came in at $1.5 billion, a decline of $315.3 million or 17 percent...