The government-sponsored enterprises both ended 2017 with record-setting numbers in the mul-tifamily market. Freddie Mac issued $68.0 billion in multifamily securities last year, up from $51.2 bil-lion the previous year.

After rumors late this week surfaced that Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, was walking away from supporting the government-sponsored enterprises’ bill (Corker-Warner) he crafted with Bob Corker, R-TN, a source close to the housing finance reform discussions confirmed that is not the case.

After some delays, PennyMac Financial Services launched its broker channel operations this week.

Issues related to servicing are often overlooked when it comes to discussions on housing-finance reform, according to an Urban Institute paper published this week.

PNC Bank made a relatively paltry $29 million in noninterest income on its mortgage business in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Through three quarters in 2017, originations of interest-only mortgages declined significantly, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. A group of 15 prominent IO lenders had $20.18 billion of such production in the first three quarters of 2017. That was down by 35.1 percent from the same span in 2016. First Republic Bank, the top IO lender in the group, increased its production of the loans, but volume has declined at ... [Includes one data chart]

While mortgage originations overall declined through three quarters in 2017, production of adjustable-rate mortgages increased slightly from the same period in 2016, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. An estimated $161.0 billion of ARMs were originated in the first three quarters of 2017, up 2.5 percent compared with 2016. Total mortgage originations declined by 10.1 percent in that span ... [Includes one data chart]

As the dust settles from tax reform legislation passed at hyper speed at the end of 2017, industry analysts project that demand for jumbo purchase mortgages will take a hit. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the amount of new debt eligible for the mortgage interest deduction. For purchase mortgages taken out on Dec. 15, 2017, and beyond, only $750,000 of debt will be eligible for the interest deduction. Previously, the limit was $1.0 million. Additionally, deductions from federal taxes for ...

PennyMac Financial Services launched its broker origination channel this week. While the company hasn’t originated many jumbo mortgages in the past year, it said the broker channel “will provide opportunities to grow volumes in attractive segments,” including jumbos. Carrington Mortgage Services recently launched some nonprime products in its wholesale channel. The lender allows for credit scores as low as 500 and loan amounts up to ... [Includes five briefs]

Ginnie Mae set records for new issuance of single-family mortgage-backed securities in 2015 and 2016, but production sagged last year, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside FHA/VA Lending. The agency issued $443.20 billion of MBS backed by forward single-family mortgages in 2017, a 10.8 percent decline from the previous year. Including FHA reverse mortgages and that are not truncated, 2017 issuance fell 10.3 percent to $455.00 billion. Meanwhile, the private mortgage insurance business – based on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS data – saw a smaller decline of 5.0 percent from 2016 to last year. The VA program generally held up better than the FHA program during the fourth quarter, when refinance lending was climbing. But the FHA had a better year overall despite some loss of market share in purchase-mortgage activity. Deliveries of FHA loans into ... [ Charts ]