The nomination of Dr. Ben Carson to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development has garnered mixed responses from stakeholders, making the choice of key subordinates more crucial to a successful tenure. Stakeholders are willing to give Carson, a pediatric neurosurgeon, a chance despite his inexperience in civil service and in running a federal agency. They say, however, that Carson’s success as President-elect Donald Trump’s housing chief will likely depend on the people who are going to be named as his assistant secretary for housing, FHA commissioner, and Ginnie Mae president. “The key positions need to be filled by people with deep industry experience and understanding of the primary and secondary mortgage markets and housing overall,” said an industry observer. So far, only Carson has been named for an executive position at HUD. The positions of ...

A recent ruling by Florida’s Fifth Court of Appeal, if finalized, will affect any FHA foreclosure case that references the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s mandatory face-to-face interview with borrowers, according to industry attorneys. In Palma v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, Nat’l Ass’n, et al., the state appellate court found that HUD’s face-to-face interview requirement is “a condition precedent to foreclosure” for Florida mortgages that specifically incorporate the HUD regulation. Prior to the decision, no Florida appellate court has held that HUD’s requirement constitutes a condition precedent to foreclosure, according to attorneys with the Richmond, VA, law firm McGuireWoods. “Although this decision is not yet final and rehearing is likely, it has far-reaching impacts on the conditions and evidence required for foreclosure trials throughout Florida and is the ...

The VA share of the government-insured market has increased substantially in 2016 as more veterans obtained VA loans, mostly through nonbank lenders. With the growth in VA business, however, comes increased risk exposure to thinly regulated nonbanks, which prompted Washington, DC-based think tank The Urban Institute to call for enhanced nonbank regulation. Given the thin capital and liquidity requirements under which nonbanks operate, it is important to address this risk, writes UI research associate Karan Kaul in an analysis. Unlike the FHA, which insures mortgages up to 100 percent of the loan amount, the VA only guarantees 25 percent of the loan amount, Kaul noted. If a loan defaults, the lender takes the hit on the remaining 75 percent of the loan balance, he added. “If the lender cannot fulfill [its] financial obligations, the VA – hence, taxpayers – pick up the ...

The flow of rural housing loans into Ginnie Mae securities saw a significant spike in the third quarter of 2016, thanks to increased market activity. Approximately $13.7 billion in USDA loans were delivered into Ginnie Mae single-family pools over a nine-month period, punctuated by a 32.1 percent surge in volume in the third quarter. Production was up a mere 1.2 percent year over year. Top USDA issuer Chase Home Finance accounted for $3.4 billion of securitized rural housing loans while in distant second place, PennyMac closed the quarter with $1.4 billion. Wells Fargo ($951.3 million), Freedom Mortgage ($876.6 million), and Pacific Union ($394.4 million), in sequential order, comprised the rest of the top five USDA issuers. Freedom Mortgage saw its volume increase tenfold both on a quarter-to-quarter and year-over-year ... [Chart]

FHA reverse mortgage lenders capped the third quarter of 2016 with a 2.2 percent volume increase over the previous quarter, ending the first nine months with $11.0 billion in new Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans. The year-over-year story, however, was different, as nine-month originations fell 10.5 percent from the same period last year. Purchase HECMs comprised the bulk of originations, 86.3 percent. Unlike in FY 2015, when the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund’s healthy HECM portfolio helped pushed the capital reserve ratio above the statutory 2.0 percent requirement, the portfolio appeared to be in bad shape in FY 2016. The fiscal 2016 actuarial audit of the MMIF projected a negative $7.7 billion economic value for the HECM program, dramatically down from last year’s estimated $6.8 billion. Auditors attributed the decline to adverse effects of “incorporating deeper ... [Chart]

FHA will no longer perform pre-closing reviews of loans prior to endorsement, according to an agency notice published in the Federal Register this week. Rather, a lender applying for direct endorsement (DE) authority will be required to submit loan files for FHA’s pre-endorsement review only after closing. After determining the mortgage’s eligibility, FHA will notify the lender of the loan’s endorsement. Although the notice’s effective date is Jan. 13, 2017, lenders will be required to submit only closed mortgages for pre-endorsement review on or after April 1, 2017. FHA said it is providing a four-month grace period so that applicants for DE authority will have sufficient time to prepare for the switch. The agency is currently adjusting its systems to accommodate the change. Lenders will be updated periodically about these modifications prior to April 1. Lenders that enter the ...

Royce Goldman, a marketing lead generator, noted that as interest rates rise, the firm can help connect lenders that originate non-qualified mortgages with borrowers. “As private capital and securitization continue to expand under a more favorable regulatory climate, we will continue to see liquidity expansion but it will require a data driven approach to sourcing the client profile this investor community will lend to,” said John Royce, CEO of Royce Goldman.

The government-backed lending market is heading into a year of uncertainty, not knowing whether things will get better or worse under a Trump administration, according to stakeholders. The recent increase in the loan limits for FHA and VA mortgages is expected to have marginal to moderate results for originations, given the tight housing market and rising interest rates, stakeholders noted. Some lenders predict that the benefits of the loan limit increases for FHA and VA will be incremental, particularly in high-cost markets where it is difficult for borrowers to obtain Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. Overall, the Mortgage Bankers Association forecasts a decline in total mortgage originations in 2017, driven by a sharp drop in refinances. However, Michael Fratantoni, MBA senior vice president and chief economist, is predicting 10 percent growth in purchase volume next year, the ...

Mortgage brokers played a somewhat diminished role in jumbo mortgage originations during the third quarter, according to an exclusive Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis and jumbo lender profile. Survey data from Inside Mortgage Finance show that brokers were responsible for just 3.9 percent of jumbo originations in the third quarter, down from 4.5 percent in the previous period. The retail (79.8 percent) and correspondent (16.3 percent) shares were ... [Includes one data chart]

Lenders originating interest-only mortgages showed divergent trends in the third quarter, with some posting significant declines on a quarterly basis while others continued to increase production. A group of 12 lenders tracked by Inside Nonconforming Markets originated a total of $9.64 billion in IOs during the third quarter, down 23.7 percent from the previous quarter. The decline was driven by PHH Mortgage, whose IO originations through three quarters this year ... [Includes one data chart]