Home-equity lending has quietly begun to rebound in 2013 as firmer house prices give homeowners more to borrow against and rising mortgage rates diminish the appeal of refinancing. According to revised Inside Mortgage Finance estimates, a total of $43.5 billion of home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages were originated during the first nine months of this year. That was up 30.8 percent from the same period in 2012 and it included a hefty 13.3 percent increase from the second to the third quarter of this year. The increase in HEL production so far hasn’t turned...[Includes three data charts]

Concerns about red tape from lenders have prompted an increasing share of homebuyers to use all cash to purchase a home, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Some 29.3 percent of home purchases completed in November relied solely on cash, based on a three-month moving average. That was the third monthly increase in the share of cash transactions. Tom Popik, research director of Campbell Surveys, said...

In just a few weeks, it will become clear whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule will be the industry’s Y2K moment. But in the meantime, three top industry attorneys shared some final advice and guidance during a QM “double check” webinar sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance last week. Joseph Reilly, a partner at BuckleySandler LLP, emphasized the critical importance of lenders documenting their compliance with the new regulation. “If a tree falls...

According to Inside FHA Lending, the top three VA lenders during the first nine months of 2013 were: Wells Fargo, USAA, and Freedom Mortgage.

FHA officials first asked for the servicing authority back in June, but the request has gone nowhere. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac already have transfer authority.

A BuckleySandler lawyer reached into Zen lore to make his point. “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?” he asked. Similarly, “Starting in 2014: If a lender complies with ATR/QM but cannot evidence it, has the lender complied?”

Meanwhile, mortgage insurers are concerned that the new LLPA grid from Fannie and Freddie will throw cold water on their market share gains.

The FHFA MMI is in better shape? So what, says critic Ed Pinto. He believes that huge problems remain.

The drop in warehouse commitments mirrored, somewhat, the fall-off in residential originations, which declined almost 19 percent in the third quarter, according to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance.

Do mortgage insurance firms need to be "officially" regulated by the federal government?