Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told Congress it would cost approximately $500 million upfront to convert FHA’s archaic information technology systems to a modern technology platform.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported this week that the GSEs completed 67,569 foreclosure prevention actions in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Former Fannie Mae executive and critic of the government-sponsored enterprises’ credit-risk transfer programs, Tim Howard, said on his blog this week that CRTs only help “sustain what has become a very profitable program for Wall Street firms and capital market investors.”

Overall production of government-insured loans fell in all three origination channels in the fourth quarter as refinancing continued to decline in 2017. A survey of FHA, VA and rural housing lenders showed originations in retail, correspondent and broker conduits totaled $248.9 billion, down 11.8 percent from 2016. Correspondent production suffered the biggest quarterly decline, 14.9 percent from the third to the fourth quarter. Production in this channel also declined 4.8 percent for the full year. Approximately $139.3 billion of FHA and VA loans came through this channel last year. Notwithstanding the decline, the correspondent share of government-insured lending grew to 56.0 percent in 2017, up from 51.9 percent in 2016. Brokers saw their share of the government-insured market rise to 10.0 percent, even as quarterly and year-over-year originations declined by 2.0 percent and 10.7 percent ,,, [ Charts ]

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage lenders ended 2017 on a positive note, thanks to a relatively strong fourth quarter, according to an analysis of FHA data. Total reverse mortgage originations rose 3.0 percent from the third quarter to end the year with $18.4 billion in overall HECM production. This was up 23.2 percent year-over-year. Purchase HECMs accounted for 76.2 percent of reverse mortgage originations in 2017. Adjustable-rate HECMs comprised 89.3 percent of loans made. Meanwhile, HECM mortgage-backed securities issuance totaled $2.25 billion in the fourth quarter, buoyed by $1.35 billion of HMBS issued in December, Ginnie Mae data show. The top five HMBS issuers accounted for $5.72 billion or 31.1 percent of all HMBS issued in 2017. American Advisors Group remained the dominant HECM lender in 2017, producing $2.8 billion over the 12-month period, which represented a ... [ Chart ]

The mortgage servicing business racked up its third consecutive year of steady growth in 2017.

Freddie Mac announced its first non-performing loan sale of the year this week.

Consumers who take part in homebuyer education and counseling classes are more satisfied with the mortgage process.

The mortgage servicing business racked up its third consecutive year of steady growth in 2017, following seven years of erosion, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking.

The potential end of publication of the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate hasn’t yet prompted a significant shift by lenders. Many new originations of adjustable-rate mortgages continue to be linked to LIBOR as industry participants determine how to respond to the potential demise of the index.