Certain potential changes could materially affect origination volume and determine the government-sponsored enterprises’ direction going forward, according to analysts. One of those changes could have a significant impact on the FHA market. Wells Fargo Securities analysts recently looked at three potential developments in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac sphere and evaluated their effects on the broader mortgage market. Two of those potential changes – loan limits and guarantee fees – are controlled directly by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, while the third relates to the temporary GSE qualified-mortgage exemption, or “QM patch,” which could affect the FHA market. All three factors loom over the mortgage landscape as the FHFA expects a new director in January 2019, who is likely to be more right leaning and could shift the focus back to shrinking the ...

Wholesale-broker production of FHA loans was up 8.1 percent from the second to the third quarter of 2018, making it the fastest-growing channel in the program, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities data. However, the volume of brokered VA loans securitized during the third quarter fell 4.0 percent from the previous period, the only channel to show a loss over that period. Correspondent production remained king in the FHA segment, with volume rising 7.4 percent from the second quarter. Correspondents generated 48.9 percent of FHA loans delivered into Ginnie MBS pools over the first nine months of the year. PennyMac Financial and Amerihome Mortgage duked it out as the top correspondent platforms in the third-quarter FHA market. Retail was runner-up with a 35.6 percent share of FHA year-to-date business, with wholesale-broker accounting for just ... [Charts]

Citadel Servicing formally introduced a mortgage program last week for properties with between five and 35 units. The properties can have any commercial use as long as at least one unit has a spot for a bed. “Basically, if it has a bed or living residence attached to it, we can fund it,” said Daniel Perl, Citadel’s CEO. The Outside Dodd-Frank Plus program is offered through Citadel’s wholesale channel. Loan amounts up to $3.0 million are available for loan-to-value ratios up to 70.0 percent ...

The fix-and-flip financing market saw a big upswing following the housing market collapse, when there was a bounty of properties for sale at bargain prices. Since then, the market has normalized. But experts speaking on a panel at the Residential Mortgage Finance Symposium sponsored by the Structured Finance Industry Group this week in New York say fix-and-flip financing still holds a lot of promise for lenders willing to learn its fine points. Dash Robinson, president of Redwood Trust ...

A huge non-QM expansion for Athas Capital?

MBA sent the CFPB a letter signed by 250 member firms…

In less than two weeks, the Senate Banking Committee will hold an oversight hearing on controversial pilot programs launched by Fannie and Freddie...

Stan Kurland: “We expect to see consolidation in the mortgage market, and successful firms will be the ones that have the size, scale and technological capabilities to compete."

The nonprime sector has split off from jumbo, and there are now roughly 70 investors in the sector.

Borrowers with adjustable-rate and reverse mortgages may benefit significantly from the phase-out of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), according to new research by the Urban Institute. But the news is not so good for investors.