Real estate agents, homebuilders and mortgage lenders alike are hoping the sluggish market really is due to the unusually severe winter seen across the nation – and something not deeper or more systemic.However, the critical spring homebuying season is getting underway, and the next three months may have much to say about whether 2014 will be a break-out year or just a middling performer. “Over the coming months, we believe it will become increasingly clear whether our estimate for a $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion market is still achievable or if originations will come in closer to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s long-standing target for $1.1 trillion,” analysts at FBR Capital Markets said recently. “Though we had long expected refinancing volumes to slow as rates rose and the pool of borrowers with an economic incentive...
If you’re disappointed by the sluggish mortgage market where you are, you can take some comfort in knowing that the grass isn’t much greener anywhere else. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of first-quarter mortgage activity by state shows that most areas of the country produced at least 40 percent fewer mortgages in early 2014 than during the same period last year. California, still the biggest housing market of all, saw a 67.2 percent decline in mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That was a couple ticks worse than the 63.7 percent nationwide. In contrast, the market was down “only” 44.9 percent in Texas, the second-largest source of agency mortgages. Third-ranked Florida was also in a little better shape than the overall market, though business was down 53.6 percent from the first quarter of 2013...
Johnson-Crapo is wide open on what entities could issue the new MBS and even allows single firms to be loan originators, aggregators, issuers and bond guarantors.
New single-family business volume at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to decline in early 2014, hitting the lowest quarterly total in 14 years during the first three months of the year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. The two government-sponsored enterprises issued a total of $129.2 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the first quarter of 2014. That was down 29.1 percent from the already weak production of the fourth quarter and off 63.7 percent from the same period in 2013. The first-quarter 2014 total marked...[Includes two data charts]
PHH Mortgage has been on the auction block for well over two months now and at least three nonbank buyers have looked at the firm, according to industry advisors close to the company. However, it remains to be seen whether a deal can get done during a year in which residential production could plunge by 30 percent or more. Industry advisors have identified as possible buyers Carrington Mortgage and Ocwen Financial. Both are growth-oriented nonbanks that have been selective buyers of servicing rights and production assets the past few years. At least one other potential buyer has been mentioned...
The nonbank servicers under scrutiny from regulators have rankings at similar levels to banks, according to an analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. And while there have been concerns about loss mitigation activity by nonbank servicers, they use loan modifications more than banks. Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial and Walter Investment Management’s Green Tree Servicing were among the 17 servicers that received a rating of at least three stars from Fannie Mae for their performance in 2013, the government-sponsored enterprise disclosed last week. Twelve unnamed servicers received ratings below three stars. Green Tree (four stars) and Nationstar (three) maintained...
Also, new single-family MBS production by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plummeted 15.6 percent from February to March as the GSEs posted their lowest quarterly production total in 14 years.
Loss-mitigation activity by major bank servicers has decreased significantly in the past year, coinciding with servicers’ completion of loss-mitigation requirements under the $25 billion national servicing settlement. Eight major banks and thrifts completed 72,466 loan modifications in the fourth quarter of 2013, a 49.5 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2012, according to a new report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The servicers completed 60,765 foreclosures in the fourth quarter, down 42.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012. The declines in loan mods and foreclosures by banks have outpaced...
Rep. Maxine Waters’ housing finance reform legislation may go nowhere in the House, but parts of it could be taken up by members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee who so far have not signed on with the bipartisan reform bill that’s to be marked up at the end of April. The California Democrat’s bill differs from the Senate bill in two key ways: it requires that the private market take a smaller first-loss position in a future government-insured program for mortgage-backed securities, and it sets up a lender-owned cooperative as the sole issuer of the new MBS. The bill pushed by Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, would require...
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