The primary mortgage market’s growing reliance on purchase-money lending helped swing a little more business to correspondent lenders in the third quarter of 2018, according to an Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. [Includes four data charts.]
Single-family mortgage business slowed predictably at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last month, although there was surprising resilience in the refinance market. [Includes two data charts.]
Retail-originated loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae during the third quarter generally had stronger credit scores than similar loans produced by third-party lenders, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of loan-level data. The average credit score for a retail purchase loan pooled in an agency mortgage-backed security during the period was 735.47, compared with 720.20 for correspondent purchase ... [Includes two data charts]
Rising interest rates aren’t a major inhibitor of demand for purchase mortgages but they have reduced housing inventory, according to Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American. “Rising mortgage rates create a financial disincentive for existing homeowners with low mortgage rates from selling their homes,” he said in an analysis this week. “This phenomenon impacts both sides of the supply-and-demand dynamic – those who don’t sell, don’t buy either.” First American, a title insurance ...
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