Has The Mortgage Deconstruction Trend Run Its Course? The trend of deconsolidation among residential originators is likely to reverse due to the advantages of large lenders, according to projections from Fannie Mae. “The recent decline in large-lender share of the primary market is temporary, and principally a result of cyclical factors that caused larger lenders to pull back from the market,” said Gerry Flood, director of strategic planning in Fannie’s economic and strategic research division.

Mobile technology may seem to be all the rage, with many lenders tapping vendors to help borrowers to shop for rates, mortgages and lenders from the palms of their hands. But a new Fannie Mae survey suggests that borrowers prefer to go “old school” and use their personal computers to find the best mortgage. The use of technology in mortgage shopping is likely to continue – especially among younger borrowers with higher income and educational levels. “Consumers say they use traditional ...

A white paper circulated last week at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association asserted, somewhat counter-intuitively, that repealing the home-mortgage interest deduction and property-tax reductions would result in lower home prices but higher rates of homeownership. The paper, prepared by Kamila Sommer, an economist with the Federal Reserve Board, and Paul Sullivan, an economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, studied the impact of reducing housing tax expenditures on equilibrium ...

The tendency of borrowers with low credit scores to choose adjustable-rate mortgages over fixed-rate loans is more about economic considerations rather than a lack of financial sophistication, according to a study by Federal Reserve researchers. In the study, Fred Furlong, David Lang and Yelena Takhtamanova looked at factors that influenced lower-credit borrowers to select ARMs over fixed-rate mortgages during the housing boom in early 2000. In general, the research team observed ...

Commercial banks and savings institutions coughed up $1.998 billion in mortgage repurchases and indemnifications during the third quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. It was the lowest quarterly repurchase total for the industry since the third quarter of 2008, when the buyback storm was just beginning to gather force. The third quarter 2013 total also reflected a 25.2 percent drop from the second quarter. For the first nine months of 2013 ... [Includes one data chart]

Declining refinance volume contributed to a marked decline in the GSEs’ overall business at the end of 2013 as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted big declines in business on a quarterly and total 12-month basis, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Fannie and Freddie issued $182.2 billion in new single-family mortgage-backed securities during the three-month period ending Dec. 31, 2013, a two-year low.

When it comes to the new QM rule lenders are operating from a position of fear. You can bet that mortgage attorneys in the Washington DC area have racked up the billable hours, holding their clients’ hands and supplying legal advice as the clock strikes midnight.

New issuance of single-family MBS and non-mortgage ABS fell sharply in the fourth quarter of 2013 as mortgage refinance activity continued to decline and ABS production ended the year quietly, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. Monthly production of single-family MBS went into a steady, year-long decline at the beginning of 2013. In December, total single-family MBS issuance fell to just $77.1 billion, the lowest monthly production figure since July 2011. December marked the third straight month with MBS issuance below $100 billion, and it gave the fourth quarter an anemic $254.8 billion in total issuance – a two-and-a-half-year low. Although Freddie Mac scored a minor increase in December, the agency MBS market fell...[Includes two data charts]

Some lawmakers and non-agency interests are not happy with new Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt’s move this week to delay a planned 10 basis point increase in the government-sponsored enterprises’ MBS guaranty fees. Two days after he was sworn in to a five-year term as FHFA director, Watt followed through on a promise he made late last month to delay then FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco’s announced 10 bps g-fee hike. Watt promised sellers at least 120 days before implementing any changes. The g-fee increase was set...

Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA, said this week they are unmoved by arguments that the government-sponsored enterprises have all but repaid the capital fronted by the federal government and that future GSE profits should be directed to GSE shareholders, including hedge funds that have increased their holdings in recent months. “We respect the Constitution, and we understand there are some issues that need to be worked through. But at the end of the day, the GSEs would have no value whatsoever had the government not stepped in,” Corker said at a discussion hosted by the Financial Services Roundtable. He told shareholders – such as Pershing Square Capital Management and Fairholme Funds – to file lawsuits against the federal government. “Go through the courts and seek legal remedy,” Corker said. Warner said...