A recent research note from Sterne Agee predicts higher operating costs for Ocwen because of its ongoing regulatory disputes with the New York Department of Financial Services.

With Continental Home Loan under its umbrella, Freedom believes its production run-rate will be $2 billion a month.

What? Are piggy-back mortgages making a comeback?

The Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing tapering will put a dent in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranty fee revenues, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Inspector General. The evaluation report issued by the IG last week concluded that as the central bank pulls back from the mortgage-backed securities market, interest rates will drift higher and the GSEs will do less business, meaning declining g-fee revenue.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has formally called upon the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s official watchdog to reconsider some of its proposals meant to prevent the next multi-billion dollar fraud scheme against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In a letter dispatched to the FHFA’s Inspector General late last week, the MBA cited its opposition to certain recommendations the IG made to the Finance Agency in its August post-mortem on the swindle perpetrated by the now-defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage.

Modified Freddie Mac mortgages performed better than Fannie Mae loans more than two years after modification as the performance gap between the two GSE closed slowly, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The OCC’s latest Mortgage Metrics Report noted that Freddie loans had a 15.5 percent re-default rate six months after modification, while Fannie mods saw a 16.2 percent rate.At the 12-month mark, Freddie stood at 21.9 percent compared to Fannie’s 23.2 percent.

FHFA’s Watt Promises a CEO for the CSP by Year-end. After a year of searching for a chief executive to lead Common Securitization Solutions, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is getting closer to picking a candidate for the job. Speaking at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Las Vegas last week, FHFA Director Mel Watt promised the industry that a CEO would be named by Dec. 31. The FHFA’s search firm is Spencer Stuart.

Together, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September posted a combined increase in the volume of single-family mortgages securitized, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Fannie and Freddie issued $64.1 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities in September, a 4.9 percent increase from August. However, September’s MBS issuance was down 56.7 percent on a year-to-date basis.

Mortgage industry economists agreed that 2014 loan origination volume would be down significantly from 2013, tapering off to another drop in new business in 2015. With a surprising increase in production during the third quarter and an early October bond market rally, the outlook for next year is less clear. Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association, last week predicted that mortgage originations would grow by 7.4 percent next year ... [Includes one data chart]

Regional banks generally reported improvements to mortgage-banking income in the third quarter of 2014, according to an analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends. Third-quarter mortgage-banking income for a group of 17 regional banks rose 10.7 percent from the previous quarter and was up 12.5 percent from the third quarter of 2013, when some of the lenders reported record origination volumes. Results were mixed among the group. Flagstar Bank reported $58.40 million in mortgage-banking income ...