Meanwhile, the leaders of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee have introduced S. 1751, a six-year extension bill with relatively minor reforms, as far as the Realtors are concerned.
August is turning out to be an unfortunate month for WMC Mortgage and Deutsche Bank in terms of continuing legacy MBS litigation, but an auspicious one for Bank of New York Mellon, which won a favorable verdict in a residential MBS case. On Aug. 8, Judge Charles Haight of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut denied defendant WMC Mortgage’s motion for partial summary judgment in Law Debenture Trust Co. of New York v. WMC Mortgage. The case involves a pool of 5,162 residential loans originated by WMC which were securitized in 2006 and sold to the trust for $1 billion, according to the law firm Orrick. The lender was...
According to our calculation, Fannie common now trades at $2.80, a 20.17 percent improvement since the close of 2Q17, while Freddie’s value rose 21.08 percent to $2.70.
Originations of nonconforming mortgages are increasing as lenders get more comfortable with the loans and seek to maintain production levels. Some $7.0 billion in nonconforming mortgages were originated in the second quarter of 2017, according to estimates by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The category includes nonprime loans, mortgages that don’t meet the qualified-mortgage test and other non-agency products, but it excludes prime jumbo loans. In our surveys ... [Includes one data chart]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s planned review of the ability-to-repay rule prompted comment letters from trade groups representing various industry participants along with individual comment letters from JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. The big banks were critical of certain aspects of the ATR rule and requested changes that could increase originations of non-agency mortgages. “The ATR/qualified mortgage rule is not working as desired,” said Michael Weinbach, a ...
Legislation being pushed by Republicans in Congress would reduce appraisal requirements for a unique set of mortgages: those with balances of $250,000 or less that are held in portfolio for three years. Supporters of the legislation claim the carve-out will help first-time homebuyers and lenders in rural areas, while consumer advocates caution that the proposal could lead to practices similar to those that contributed to the financial crisis. H.R. 3221, the Securing Access to Affordable Mortgage Act ...
FHA production increased slightly even as VA originations fell by a larger percentage in the second quarter of 2017, an analysis of the agencies’ lending activities found. FHA ended the quarter with $60.8 billion in forward mortgage endorsements, up 1.8 percent from the previous quarter. In contrast, VA originations declined by 4.9 percent over the same period, closing the second quarter with $40.8 billion. FHA and VA production typically gain share when the purchase-mortgage lending increases. For example, Inside Mortgage Finance reported that purchase mortgages comprised 71.3 percent of loans securitized in Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities in 2Q17, compared to 59.9 percent in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS. FHA endorsements over the first half of 2017 totaled $120.6 billion, of which $86.0 billion were purchase loans. This was up 4.8 percent from the same six-month period ... [Charts]