Cash-out refinance mortgages accounted for a slightly larger share of the conventional refi market in 2014, according to Freddie Mac’s annual refinance report. The government-sponsored enterprise estimated that cash-out deals accounted for 6.8 percent of total refinance lending last year, up from 3.7 percent in 2013. It was the highest cash-out share since 2009. During the go-go years of 2005-2007, cash-out transactions accounted for more than ...
The two best things about the mortgage origination market in the fourth quarter were that it meant 2014 wasn’t as bad as once feared, and that refinance demand had picked up. But a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking reveals two other positive trends: the jumbo and home-equity markets continued to gain strength in the final three months of 2014. Lenders originated an estimated $67 billion of jumbo mortgages during the fourth quarter, up 3.1 percent from the previous period. Home-equity production bounced 5.0 percent higher, to an estimated $21 billion. Neither gain was...[Includes two data charts]
Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro faced the wrath of the GOP majority during a House Financial Services Committee hearing this week on the state of the FHA, focusing on the agency’s recent decision to cut annual mortgage insurance premiums. While Castro may have been warned about stepping into the lion’s den, he appeared ill-prepared for the confrontation with Republicans, unable to answer basic questions such as FHA’s net income, overall delinquency rate and the serious delinquency rate for 2014. Democrats, on the other hand, helped the embattled secretary regain his footing by expressing support for FHA’s efforts and putting perspective on some of FHA’s actions to strengthen the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund and help qualify more borrowers for FHA credit. Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, set...
Internal differences among Democrats and Republicans – let alone the strong differences between the two parties – have prevented Congress from resolving the conservatorship of the two government-sponsored enterprises, according to industry analysts. At the ABS Vegas conference this week sponsored by the Structured Finance Industry Group and Information Management Network, two people with intimate knowledge of matters in the House and Senate pointed to inter-party issues regarding GSE reform. Andrew Olmem, a partner at the law firm of Venable and a former Republican chief counsel and deputy staff director at the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs until 2013, noted...
RoundPoint Mortgage, a servicer with more than $41 billion of receivables on its books, is entertaining offers for the entire company, according to industry officials briefed on the matter. Moreover, servicing advisors contend that several large bulk servicing portfolios are ready to hit the market in what should turn out to be a busy late winter/early spring for both buyers and sellers of mortgage servicing rights. In a recent public disclosure, Ocwen Financial said...
Institutional investors that loaded up on mortgage stocks the past two years have been battered by huge losses thanks to a 34 percent plunge in originations and negative publicity generated by industry bellwether Ocwen Financial and some of its peers. But with some mortgage stocks – such as Owen – trading at 80 percent discounts to their 52-week highs, now may be the time to “re-enter” the volatile world of mortgage equities. At least, that’s how some hedge funds and private-equity firms view the matter. According to Henry Coffey, a vice president and senior analyst at Sterne Agee, there are...
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