Mortgage origination volume was down sharply in 2014, but not by as much as previously thought, according to an Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data released this week by federal regulators. A total of $1.242 trillion of single-family purchase and refinance loans were originated during 2014, the HMDA data reveal. That was down 29.5 percent from the 2013 HMDA total, although purchase-mortgage lending was up slightly in both the government-insured and conventional markets. HMDA first-lien purchase and refi originations came...[Includes one data table]

The FHA will consider stakeholders’ concern about its proposal to terminate a lender’s mortgage insurance contract for missing a yet-to-be-finalized deadline for filing claims, an agency official said. For now, however, the agency remains adamant about letting the provision stand despite stakeholder complaints about its severity, said Ivery Himes, director of the Office of Single Family Asset Management at FHA, during a panel discussion this week at the Ginnie Mae annual conference in Arlington, VA. She said missed deadlines are costly and are putting a strain on the agency’s resources. Himes blamed...

Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s, said the biggest impediment to opening up the FHA credit box is the issue of loan certification.

The evidence is somewhat suspect because as the analysts noted, the 43 percent cap on DTI ratios for QMs doesn’t currently apply to the FHA, VA or GSE mortgages.

Bond investing giant PIMCO has quietly purchased First Guaranty Mortgage Corp., Frederick, MD, for roughly $50 million, gaining a toehold into an industry it has been carefully eyeing for well over two years now. The acquisition – confirmed to Inside Mortgage Finance by several sources – comes roughly three months after the company pulled out of talks with RoundPoint Mortgage, the nation’s 24th largest servicer. PIMCO – formally known as Pacific Investment Management Co. – has tried...

Ocwen has so many workers in India that it hedges its risk against the currency there, the Rupee.

For many investors it has boiled down to this: They’ve had enough and they want out.

“It was a great channel for some time, but the competitive landscape is expanding rapidly,” said one executive at the company.

The former FHA commissioner noted that: “We’ve seen that before – when enforcement does replace regulation..."

Meanwhile, the MBA chief – and his members – were caught off guard by Tozer’s comments about nonbanks and servicing transfers.