The top tier of mortgage producers gained some market share in 2016, but call-report data show that community banks continued to play a huge role in the primary market, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. The top 100 lenders produced a hefty $1.622 trillion in first-lien mortgages last year, including their correspondent and wholesale-broker programs. Although their production faltered by 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter, full-year volume was up 18.2 percent from 2015. Banks, thrifts and credit unions ended...[Includes two data tables]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “made significant progress” in meeting the goals of their conservatorships for 2016, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Most of the objectives set by the so-called scorecard were focused on testing new concepts or perfecting existing ones, and relatively few of them had hard targets in terms of business volume. A first strategic goal for the government-sponsored enterprises was to maintain credit availability, including increasing access to credit. There has been barely any change in the credit profile of the two GSEs’ business, and the regulator did not set any specific goals other than the affordable housing goals. And some critics would argue that the FHFA hasn’t done much to encourage more risk taking in that it has held guarantee fees steady. Last year, both Fannie and Freddie started...
The GSEs have developed proposals to more closely align their mortgage insurance master policies with their reps-and-warranties policies, which will be reviewed by the FHFA this year.
But the issue is hardly settled. Ron Haynie, senior vice president of mortgage policy at the ICBA, told Inside Mortgage Finance that he expects a change in the dividend payment this year.
However, on Wednesday, five members of the Senate Banking Committee wrote to FHFA Director Mel Watt, warning him against taking any administrative action that might alter the dividend payment.
Despite the huge losses posted by PHH, James Egan, chairman of the board, said Messina “has led PHH with vision, decisiveness and integrity through one of the most turbulent periods in the mortgage industry in decades...”
A former Fannie executive said it was always his belief the GSE charter allowed for multifamily financing but the idea was to fund “vertical” homes and not “horizontal.”
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