New prepayment data provide further evidence that rising mortgage interest rates are shriveling the refinance market, but firming home prices are fertilizing a potential surge in home-equity lending. “We have seen prepayments decline by more than 30 percent since May, when mortgage interest rates began climbing approximately 100 basis points to where we are today,” said Herb Blecher, senior vice president at Lender Processing Services. As a result, the percentage of borrowers currently in loans with ...

The Appraisal Foundation suggested this week that “alternative valuation products” likely will not comply with professional appraisal standards in most cases. If an AVP requires the same development and reporting requirements as an appraisal, the Appraisal Foundation said in a white paper, why would the industry create the AVP in the first place? The foundation noted that the Appraisal Standards Board does not deem any alternative valuation product or form as compliant with the industry’s ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitized $285 billion of single-family mortgages during the third quarter, an almost 16 percent drop from the previous three-month period. As for the outlook for the fourth quarter, the industry is nervous.

Over the past year, some lenders have complained privately about the presence of enforcement attorneys during examinations, telling Inside Mortgage Finance that it can be intimidating to staff.

With most of FHA's staff on furlough, the private mortgage insurance sector sees an opportunity to gain business.

Members of the House believe FHFA does not have the legal authority under HERA to reduce GSE loan limits.

It's not looking pretty for gain-on-sale margins this quarter. However, interest rates will remain low.

The Department of Justice recently announced settlements from three fair lending actions, all of which included allegations related to wholesale mortgage lending operations. In the first case, Southport Bank of Kenosha, WI, agreed to pay $687,000 to African-American and Hispanic wholesale mortgage borrowers as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin. The proceeds of the settlement will be used...

Among other things, the Federal Home Loan Banks want to maintain their ability to securitize residential mortgages for their members.

While standardization was the focus of jumbo investors, perhaps the bigger concern for participants is that most investors said they were looking to buy almost anything other than new jumbo MBS.