Wells Fargo Bank and Bank of America maintained their dominance in the FHA servicing market while the other institutions in the top five category held on to their respective market shares in the third quarter of 2012, according to the latest rankings by Inside FHA Lending. Except for some slight changes in the rankings, overall volume appeared flat during the quarter with no significant jumps or decline. The volume of mortgage debt outstanding with FHA insurance increased to $7.6 billion in the third quarter, up from $7.5 billion the previous quarter, with top-ranked Wells Fargo and second-place BofA accounting for ... [1 chart]

Ginnie Mae servicers reported a small increase in total production on a quarterly basis and a modest improvement year-over-year, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA data. Third quarter servicing volume was up 2.1 percent to $1.3 trillion from the previous quarter and 9.7 percent from the same period last year. Not surprisingly, top-ranked Wells Fargo Mortgage and second-place Bank of America accounted for 52.0 percent of total production. Wells Fargo grew its Ginnie Mae servicing portfolio to $399.6 billion in the third quarter, 4.2 percent better than the previous quarter and a 17.4 percent improvement from a year ago. That bumped up Wells’ market share to ... [1 chart]

An FHA lender need not cancel a scheduled foreclosure sale to reassess a borrower if the property is non-owner occupied, vacant or an investment property, according to newly issued agency guidance. Under such circumstances, the lender does not have to cancel a foreclosure sale date because loss mitigation retention options are only available to owner-occupants, the FHA explained in a frequently-asked-questions guidance on the revised requirements for loss mitigation retention options. The FHA announced the changes last month in an effort to ...

The FHA has made changes to its internal systems to make sure lenders are paying the correct recertification fees based on the number of FHA-approved branch offices. Currently, an approved lender is required to pay annual recertification fees within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year to maintain approval for the next annual reporting period. Recertification fees cover the home office and each FHA-approved branch office. Previously, lenders were allowed to terminate branch offices at the start of the annual reporting period but before paying the recertification fees. However, system flaws caused ...

Major home-equity lenders continued to show little interest in the sector during the third quarter of 2012, despite signs of strengthening home values, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance market analysis and ranking. New originations of home-equity loans – including closed-end seconds and home-equity lines of credit – remained at a sluggish $14.0 billion in the third quarter, unchanged from the previous period. The HEL market in 2012 has rebounded about 5.3 percent from the pace set during the first nine months of 2011. The uptick in new HEL originations has not been...[Includes three data charts]

The secondary market value of residential mortgage servicing rights has been in the doldrums since the housing bust, but all that could change in the coming months – thanks to both new investor interest and rising rates. And not only are values picking up but so are deals and the number of MSR valuations performed by analytic firms. “We’ve brokered 15 to 20 deals in 2012,” said Mark Garland, president of MountainView Servicing Group. “Last year we did half that.” In 2012, MountainView performed...

The mortgage servicing rule proposed earlier this year by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could easily be exploited to bring any foreclosure proceeding to a grinding halt, according to a leading mortgage industry attorney. If the rule is promulgated as currently written, that could cause mortgage lenders, who are already skittish about future losses, buyback demands and a host of other pending regulations, to pull back even further when it comes to providing mortgage credit. “The consequence of these regulations is to create...

Industry observers are holding out fading hope that Congress will act on time-sensitive mortgage-related bills before the lame-duck session draws to a close, but as the clock winds down, real estate interests are already adjusting their legislative expectations for 2013. At the top of the list of mortgage bills being watched closely is the extension of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. The law exempts up to $2 million in mortgage debt forgiven by a lender in a short sale, loan modification or foreclosure from federal taxation. Despite support from both political parties, industry groups and consumer advocates, legislative efforts to renew the act have...

Warehouse commitment volumes remained strong in the third quarter as nonbanks continued to need credit to meet the surging demand for refinancing, according to new survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. The strong showing was hardly surprising, but several warehouse executives noted one new trend: a small revival in syndicated warehouse lines where several banks participate in the credit. “A year ago there were...

The distressed property share of home sales has decreased in each of the seven months ending in November, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey, as short sales, real estate owned activity and investor purchases have become less prevalent. Distressed properties accounted for 33.7 percent of home sales in November, based on the three-month moving average, the lowest level seen in more than three years. Before the decline in distressed property activity, distressed property sales had hovered around 42.0 percent for more than two years. “As housing prices rise and unemployment declines, there are...