Freddie Mac’s plan to automate some appraisals next year as part of its representation-and-warranty relief is getting criticism from the Appraisal Institute, which said that it threatens risk-management practices. The GSE recently announced that it will broadly offer a no-cost automated appraisal alternative in early 2017 to “significantly” relieve mortgage lenders from buyback risks stemming from defects on appraisals. Currently, Freddie only offers collateral representation- and-warranty relief in select circumstances. But, in a letter penned to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt, the appraiser group warns, “Freddie Mac’s decision to veer away from fundamental risk management practices appears to harken back to the loan production-driven days in the years leading up to the 2007-2008 financial crisis.”

With Republicans poised to have control of the White House and Congress early next year there were initially concerns that the incoming Trump administration might ponder the unthinkable: killing the government guarantee on mortgage-backed securities and eventually dismantling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. After all, many elected GOP officials blame the two GSEs for the housing crisis (a notion not universally shared, by any means) and would like to eliminate them. The fear was that the vehicle for GSE euthanasia might very well turn out to be a rewrite of Rep. Jeb Hensarling’s (R-TX) “The Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act” or PATH legislation. Hensarling is also chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Balancing technological advances in the mortgage space with safety and soundness can be challenging, but it should be considered a priority, according to industry experts on a recent panel in Washington, DC, sponsored by the Urban Institute and CoreLogic. Quicken Loans launched its Rocket Mortgage early this year at a time when an avalanche of new regulations had the industry back on its heels. “While many in the industry were playing a lot of defense, and rightfully so ...

The average age of first-time homebuyers tied a record high this year, and many potential first-time homebuyers are having difficulties finding affordable properties and saving for a downpayment, according to the National Association of Realtors. NAR’s annual profile of homebuyers and sellers found that the median age of first-timers was 32, up from 31 over the past five years. First-time homebuyers accounted for 35.0 percent of home purchases in 2016, up from a ...

Homebuilders are optimistic about the rising trend in the housing market for persons 55 years of age and over. The National Association of Home Builders’ 55+ Housing Market Index showed an increase of two points to 59 in the third quarter from the previous quarter. That marks the 10th consecutive quarter in which the index has risen above the break-even point of 50, according to the trade group. The two-point increase suggests that more builders view housing-market conditions ...

As yearend approaches, growth-minded nonbank mortgage firms continue to hire new workers while commercial banks are taking a cautious “wait-and-see” approach, according to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Trends over the past two weeks. “We continue to grow and are currently hiring across the board – technology, mortgage banking, underwriting, marketing and more,” said Jordan Fylonenko, a spokesman for nonbank Quicken Loans, the nation’s second ...

PennyMac Financial Services continued to excel in terms of profitability in the third quarter, as officials cited a “distinctive” hedging strategy, among other efforts. PennyMac had $122.3 million in net income in the third quarter of 2016, up 64.6 percent from the previous period and nearly double the net income it reported a year ago. While interest-rate volatility tends to wreak havoc on earnings, Stanford Kurland, PennyMac’s chairman and CEO, said better-than-expected hedging ...

The nine major publicly traded nonbanks active in mortgage banking saw a significant improvement in earnings during the third quarter, but two firms continued to book losses, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of quarterly earnings reports. As a group, the nine nonbanks generated $129.7 billion in mortgage-banking income during the third quarter, a major improvement from their combined $339.5 million loss in the previous period ... [Includes one data chart]

Mortgage lenders delivered a slightly less risky assortment of single-family loans into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities during the third quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis. Some 11.62 percent of purchase mortgages securitized by the two government-sponsored enterprises had low credit scores and high loan-to-value ratios during the third quarter, down from 11.79 percent in the previous ... [Includes two data charts]

In case you didn’t know it, the Irvine, CA-based Citadel now services roughly $650 million in nonprime loans. Angel Oak and Deephaven use subservicers…