Choice mortgages carry rates that are roughly 100 basis points to 125 basis points higher than rates on Redwood’s super-prime program, known as Select.

Freddie’s purchase-mortgage business soared 17.1 percent from June to July, while Fannie’s was up 9.0 percent…

For months now, the industry has expected the Trump administration to tap veteran mortgage banker David Kittle to be the new president of Ginnie Mae – but so far it’s a no go. According to industry officials who claim to have knowledge of the matter, Kittle is still the top pick, and they’re not sure why his name hasn’t shown up on the White House “Nominations & Appointments” webpage. Kittle, so far, has declined to comment. Industry officials interviewed by Inside MBS & ABS believe...

Two high-profile real estate investment trusts – Annaly Capital Management and New Residential Investment Corp. – appear to be refining their investment strategies these days, heading in different directions in terms of what asset classes they prefer. New Residential is continuing to make huge bets on mortgage servicing rights. According to its just-released earnings statement, the investor is showing no reluctance whatsoever when it comes to size. A new tally from Inside Mortgage Finance shows that New Residential ended the second quarter with $353.0 billion of “full servicing” rights in its possession, up 40.1 percent from March 31. A year ago, the REIT wasn’t...

This week, the government-sponsored enterprises reported combined earnings of $4.86 billion in the second quarter, which was down 2.4 percent from the first three months of the year. The two GSEs’ fortunes went in opposite directions: Fannie’s net income rose 15.4 percent from the first quarter while Freddie’s was down 24.7 percent. Fannie CEO Tim Mayopoulos said...

In a move that would benefit the secondary market for loans made by national banks, members in the Senate and the House of Representatives recently introduced legislation to clarify that interest rates on certain loans remain unchanged after the sale or transfer of the loan. In the Senate, Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia late last week introduced S. 1642, which would amend the National Bank Act to clarify that loans which are valid when made remain valid when they’re sold, even to buyers subject to different state law. Similar language would be added to the Home Owners’ Loan Act, the Federal Credit Union Act, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. Joining Warner in sponsoring the bill were...

“We look forward to the attorney general’s views on the constitutional issues raised in our motion to dismiss,” an Ocwen spokesman told IMFnews.

It was thought that Watt, while speaking at the annual convention of the NAREB, might, might say something about the GSE dividend payments...

Correspondent-originated mortgages were the only segment of the VA market that saw an increase in activity during the second quarter, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Overall, VA loan securitization declined by 1.8 percent from the first to the second quarter of this year. But delivery of correspondent-originated VA loans was up 4.9 percent, while both the retail and wholesale-broker channels saw declines. It was a slightly different picture in the FHA segment of the Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities market. Overall volume was up 9.8 percent from the first quarter, with all three channels posting gains. Brokers saw the biggest increase in FHA business, with volume up 14.5 percent, although the correspondent channel also posted a 12.7 percent increase and remained the most active of the three production venues. Loan characteristics held steady in both ... [Charts]

Industry groups representing lenders, real estate agents and insurance providers are urging the FHA to adopt a policy allowing borrowers to purchase private flood insurance on FHA-insured loans. In a recent letter, eight industry groups said FHA’s current stance of accepting only policies authorized by the National Flood Insurance Program contradicts Congress’ intent to encourage the use of private flood insurance and conflicts with current lender requirements. Congress is putting together a comprehensive legislative package of flood-insurance reforms, which would extend the NFIP for another five years and require lenders to accept private flood insurance to meet statutory flood-insurance requirements. The group said FHA’s current policy appears to conflict with lender requirements in the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. A number of home-loan transactions have failed to ...