FHA jumbo loan originations continued their quarterly fluctuations as production in the second quarter of 2013 slipped after a good run in the previous quarter, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of FHA data. Volume fell 1.5 percent from the first quarter, during which the FHA posted $5.36 billion in jumbo mortgage originations. The first quarter number broke a declining production trend that began in the second quarter of last year when FHA reported $6.27 billion in jumbo lending. FHA lenders produced a total of $10.8 billion in new jumbo loans in the first half of 2013, down 2.7 percent from ... [2 charts]

FY 2013 Actuarial Report to Congress on the State of the MMIF Delayed. Release of the FY 2013 actuarial audit of the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund will be delayed because of the recent government shutdown, according to a government source. No other details were provided. The FHA recently notified Congress that it would seek a mandatory appropriation of approximately $1.7 billion to bolster its capital reserves for expected future losses. FHA officials said the draw does not suggest anything dire but is simply a matter of ...

Among the nation’s top five lenders in 3Q, Quicken suffered the largest volume decline on a sequential basis. Wells Fargo was a close second.

During a Q&A session at the convention, MBS co-inventor Lew Ranieri said there is no “viable” alternative to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, noting that if the two disappear banks will not rush to put 30-year fixed rate loans on their books.

Bill Erbey, the company's founder and chairman, downplayed concerns that Ocwen is growing too quickly.

SunTrust is about to leave the wholesale/broker channel. Who's next?

Mortgage originations in the third quarter of 2013 fell to their lowest level since the end of 2011, pulling down industry earnings and expectations for next year. According to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis, lenders generated an estimated $460.0 billion in new home loans during the third quarter. That was down 18.6 percent from the second quarter, when production had rallied slightly. Compared to the first nine months of 2012, origination volume this year was...[Includes two data charts]

There’s more to federal regulators’ risk-retention proposed rule and qualified residential mortgage requirements than the 30 percent downpayment option that the industry has strongly pushed back against. Lenders are also concerned about proposed disclosure requirements, horizontal risk retention and sunset provisions for risk-retention requirements. In August, six federal regulators issued a revised proposed rule for risk-retention requirements mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act. Non-agency securities backed by mortgages that don’t meet QRM requirements will be subject to required risk retention of at least 5 percent by the issuer or contributing lenders. If regulators conform the definition for QRMs with the standards for qualified mortgages established by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, more than 95 percent of originations will meet...

The audit of the FHA's MMI fund should be ready by Christmas, not Thanksgiving.

Moody’s believes the servicers’ transitions into mortgage originations was positive, but raised concerns about declining refinance opportunities, competition with banks and the potential for nonprime originations.