California remained the biggest market in the U.S. for primary mortgage insurance during the second quarter, but other states had higher proportions of insured loans, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of agency loan-level data. In Florida, Virginia and Georgia, more than 60 percent of agency loans carried some form of primary mortgage insurance ... [Includes one data chart]

CoreLogic is touting a new on-demand service that makes residential condominium lending a less strenuous process for lenders even as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac warm up the market with policy changes to drum up new business. The new service, CondoSafe Express, simplifies condo lending by taking over the extra layer of work lenders must perform to originate a condo loan. “Lenders not only have to get a borrower’s credit report, verify income and ... [Includes one data chart]

As the outlook for originations – especially refis – continues to worsen, more nonbank mortgage firms may consider selling out to larger competitors later this year, according to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance.

A HUD spokesman told this news organization that “non-U.S. citizens without lawful residency in the U.S. are not eligible for FHA-insured mortgages.”

FHA officials have fretted about rising DTI ratios for some time…

Meanwhile, several large MSR packages are currently out for bid.

Kraninger also avoided making a commitment to defend the CFPB’s constitutionality...

Noticeably absent from the letter: the FHLBs of Chicago and San Francisco…

The seasonal surge in housing sales produced a strong increase in primary mortgage insurance activity during the second quarter, especially for private MIs, according to an Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. [Includes three data charts.]

Of course, there are some in the industry who will argue Fannie and Freddie are hardly zombie-like at all...