It would take a significant increase in interest rates to diminish bank demand for holding originations of jumbo mortgages in portfolio, according to industry analysts. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said higher interest rates could eventually shift the economics in favor of banks securitizing their jumbo production and buying back the AAA tranches of the mortgage-backed securities rather than owning the whole loans on their balance sheet. “While it is tough to ...

The interim guidelines modify three key areas where lender-complaints have been common, including a revision to the calculation of the owner-occupancy ratio.

A handful of hedge funds were salivating at the prospect of shorting loanDepot's stock...

The authors want the Treasury Department to end the quarterly profit sweep and allow Fannie and Freddie to raise about $100 billion in additional capital through several rounds of new common stock sales...

Industry analysts suggest that while liquidity for new jumbo MBS remains limited, the securities can be a good investment.

On Thursday, Inside Mortgage Finance quoted one source as saying loanDepot’s valuation is “a bit aggressive.”

Despite a recovering housing market, the number of first-time homebuyers fell to the lowest level it’s been in close to 30 years, according an annual survey from the National Association of Realtors. The share of first-time buyers in the marketplace declined for the third year in a row, dipping to 32 percent, from 33 percent a year ago. The NAR said it hasn’t been that low since the trade group began the survey in 1981. Recent numbers show it’s the second lowest it’s been since 1987, when first-timers accounted for 30 percent of the market. Historically, the long-term average shows...

loanDepot Inc. this week priced its much anticipated initial public offering, valuing its soon-to-be-listed shares – 34.5 million units in total – at $18 each or roughly $621 million, a lofty valuation for a company that owns just over $20.9 billion in mortgage servicing rights. Few in the industry are questioning loanDepot’s explosive growth since its inception five years ago, but eyebrows have been raised about the anticipated size of the deal. “It’s...

The last nonbank mortgage lender to go public was Stonegate Mortgage, which brought its IPO to market two years ago.

Although the home foreclosure inventory is falling compared to a year ago, some metropolitan areas are seeing an increase in new filings, including Atlantic City.