Mortgage lenders may be given a free hand in structuring their retained risk, although how they should do it remains unclear. Regulators are reportedly close to giving lenders more elbow room on risk retention, which may come up for discussion next week when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s board of directors holds...

With the implementation of the loan originator compensation rule just around the corner, mortgage brokers are putting more pressure on the Federal Reserve to delay the rule. The latest industry move is a letter sent by the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals to...

Virginia. The state assembly passed legislation on March 15 expanding the acceptance of electronic signatures in the state. The new law provides that financial disclosure forms, lobbyist registration statements and notary applications for recommission may be signed...

The largest states in terms of FHA mortgage volume accounted for more than half of total FHA lending in 2010, boosted by a surge in purchase lending. The top 10 states in FHA origination volume last year held a 52.4 percent market share, up from 49.6 percent in 2009 and 48.8 percent in 2008, according...[Includes one data chart]

The continuing decline in mortgage broker production and the growing success of wholesale correspondent originations led to a slowdown in “direct” mortgage originations in 2010, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. Direct mortgage originations include...[Includes one data chart]

The leading financial institutions that provide mortgage loans eligible to be sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to gradually tighten their underwriting and incrementally increase the quality of their business in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the latest data from the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database. As refinance mortgages became...[Includes one data chart]

Jumbo mortgage production held up better than overall mortgage originations in 2010, and the non-agency sector for the first time in two years edged past agency-funded jumbo lending. Total jumbo mortgage originations – production of new home loans exceeding $417,000 – rose...[Includes two data charts]

The Mortgage Bankers Association this week announced that FHA Commissioner David Stevens will take over as the next president and CEO of the trade association, concluding a two-year stint at the government agency. Stevens will take over... [Includes one data chart]

The amount of home mortgage debt outstanding declined for the 11th consecutive quarter during the final three months of 2010, sinking to its lowest level since the end of 2006. The Federal Reserve last week reported there was $10.55 trillion of single-family mortgage debt outstanding at the end of 2010, down 0.6 percent from the third quarter. Since peaking...[Includes two data charts]

Similar lawsuits seeking to stop the implementation and enforcement of the Federal Reserve’s final rule prohibiting certain payments to mortgage loan originators (MLO) have been filed in federal district court in Washington, DC. In recent filings, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers and the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals sought...