“Since reaching a trough in mid-2013, the rebound in household debt has been led by student debt and auto debt, with only sluggish growth in mortgage debt,” said one New York Fed official.
Most real estate investment trusts that invest in MBS and other mortgage-related assets reported declines in their holdings of agency and non-agency securities during the fourth quarter, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. The top publicly traded REITs had a combined residential MBS portfolio valued at $228.28 billion as of the end of 2016. That was down 3.5 percent from the previous quarter and off 6.5 percent from the end of 2015. The figures are preliminary because several smaller REITs have not yet reported fourth-quarter results. Agency MBS continued...[Includes one data table]
Planned revisions to the Financial CHOICE Act would loosen regulation of rating services, according to a recent memo by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Hensarling sent the memo to the leadership team of the House Financial Services Committee this month detailing changes that will be included in hise so-called CHOICE Act 2.0. The expected revisions to standards for nationally recognized statistical rating organizations go well beyond the rollbacks included in the version of the CHOICE Act that was introduced in September. The 2016 bill would have repealed...
The retained mortgage investments of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined by 17.5 percent over the course of 2016, keeping the two government-sponsored enterprises on track to meet targets set as conditions of their conservatorships. The two GSEs reported a combined $570.78 billion in retained mortgage investments at yearend, down 7.3 percent from September. The biggest decline was in their holdings of MBS, which fell 23.8 percent for the year. Back in the early 2000s, Fannie and Freddie were...[Includes one data table]
A Minnesota state court has rendered a judgment that could substantially limit the amount of damages Residential Funding Co. and its successor-in-interest, the ResCap Liquidating Trust, could recover if it were ever to prevail on its claims in any given lawsuit against correspondent lenders, according to industry attorneys. On Feb. 1, the District Court of Hennepin County held that RFC and ResCap would not be able to pursue loan-by-loan damages associated with a repurchase claim and, thus, could not use a repurchase price “formula” to establish damages, said Philip Stein, a partner with Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, in an analysis. The decision favored...
As interest rates continue to inch upward and refinance activity drops, it stands to reason that more residential lenders will move to cut staff, if they haven’t already. But so far, there have be no major layoffs – at least none that have been registered. But that doesn’t mean industry executives aren’t thinking about it. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Trends over the past month, it’s a mixed bag when it comes to hiring. Non-agency/nonprime lenders such as ...
The homeownership rate fell for the 12th consecutive year in 2016, hitting levels last seen 50 years ago. While industry analysts expect that the homeownership rate will stop declining in the coming years, growth will likely be constrained. The annual homeownership rate in 2016 was 63.4 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That was down from a rate of 63.7 percent the previous year and from a peak of 69.0 percent in 2004. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic ...
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