Home purchase borrowers, including first-time homebuyers, rely more on their lender or mortgage broker than anyone else as a source of information about mortgages, according to a new government survey on consumers’ mortgage shopping experience. Conducted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the survey found that an estimated 70 percent of home-purchase borrowers chose their lender or broker before deciding on the type of loan ...

A number of factors, including looser underwriting standards, low interest rates and low oil prices, could help bolster the housing sector in 2015, according to industry analysts. However, total mortgage originations are still expected to decline this year compared with 2014, and consumer confidence toward the housing market is lagging optimism about the broader economy. Analysts at Fitch Ratings recently pointed to a “confluence of events” that could ...

The executive suites of mortgage banking firms are well represented by members of the “baby boom” generation who aren’t getting any younger. And therein lies a potential problem. “Millennials certainly appear to be under-represented in the mortgage industry, while members of the baby boom and Gen X generations appear to be over-represented,” said Glen Corso, executive director of Community Mortgage Lenders of America. The way Corso sees it ...

If 2015 is anything like 2014, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be getting over half of their single-family business from nonbanks by the end of the year. A new Inside The GSEs analysis of loan-level mortgage-backed securities data reveals that nonbanks accounted for 44.8 percent of Fannie/Freddie MBS issued in the fourth quarter of 2014. That was up from a nonbank share of 37.2 percent during the fourth quarter of 2013 and just 28.1 percent back in the first quarter of that year. As a group, nonbank sellers increased their total GSE sales by 2.9 percent from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, while the overall market declined by 2.1 percent. The biggest ... [with two exclusive charts] ...

This year could be a watershed moment for mortgage lending as industry representatives feel their way around a brand new approach to closing disclosures, thanks to the pending implementation of the integrated disclosure rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As a result, it’s likely that more lenders will assume greater control over the closing process as well as the end product. The new closing form is “unlike anything the industry has seen before ...

It appears that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be slowly backing away from making large servicing advance facilities to certain nonbank customers. In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Green Tree Servicing said it amended an existing facility it had with Barclays Bank, increasing the line to $1.2 billion from just $100 million. A subsidiary of Walter Investment Management, Green Tree then turned around and repaid Fannie Mae some $765 million on the outstanding balance of an existing advance facility. It’s unclear how large Fannie and Freddie are in the advance market, but one servicing advisor had this to say on the topic: “Fannie is the largest lender of servicer advances in the business simply through ...

Commercial banks and thrifts originated $89.88 billion of home mortgages through their retail production channels during the third quarter of 2014, a healthy 7.7 increase from the prior quarter, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. That brought year-to-date retail originations by banks to $236.57 billion, off 55.5 percent from the first nine months of 2013. Bank and thrift retail originations appeared to trail the overall market ... [Includes one data chart]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency threw a few new wrinkles into its 2015 marching orders for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while sticking to major themes from 2014. Under the broad heading of maintaining credit availability, the two GSEs are expected to finish making improvements to their representation-and-warranty framework regarding loan originations, as well as continue clarifying their expectations regarding servicer performance and remedies. A new assignment for Fannie and Freddie is to assess the use of alternative credit scoring models, including operational and systems issues. The GSEs are expected to be ready to implement new duty-to-serve requirements when the FHFA implements a final rule. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 directed the agency to issue regulations describing ...

The subject of cutting FHA premiums sucked up most of the oxygen in the room when President Barack Obama spoke about housing issues last week in Phoenix. However, the president also discussed the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; he and the White House reiterated some core principles for GSE reform the president would like to see taken up in the 114th Congress. Although it is still early, the initial indications of interest from lawmakers were less than inspiring. “The president continues to strongly support long-term housing finance reform through legislation that requires private capital to take the risks and rewards in mortgage lending while preserving broad and affordable access for all creditworthy families,” the White House said in ...

Fannie Mae is looking to improve the efficiencies and systems that drive its “As Soon As Pooled” program, the secondary market giant confirmed to Inside The GSEs. A spokesman for Fannie said no major changes are planned, especially regarding eligibility requirements, which is good news for the small to medium-sized lenders that use it. “ASAP is something we have been looking at,” he said. “The focus is on how we can make it better. But I can’t offer you any timetables.” ASAP is essentially an early delivery program. It allows lenders to fund loans closer to origination – up to 60 days before they are delivered to Fannie.For nonbank lenders that use warehouse lines of credit, the cost savings can ...