There’s plenty of consumer demand for loans that don’t meet the standards for qualified mortgages, according to industry participants. But more than a year after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau established standards for non-QMs, lenders and investors are still trying to determine the liability posed by the mortgages. Jay Lown, president of Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment, a real estate investment trust managed by Stan Middleman, chairman and CEO of Freedom Mortgage, said Freedom is ...

Originations of higher-priced mortgages increased significantly in 2013 compared with the previous year, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data released this week. The market share for higher-priced mortgages also more than doubled in 2013 compared with the previous year, but the loans continue to account for a small portion of total originations. Some $35.18 billion in higher-priced mortgages were sold in 2013, up from ... [Includes one data chart]

Obama administration officials and federal regulators met recently with mortgage industry representatives to discuss lender overlays and other obstacles preventing borrowers with slightly tainted credit and first-time homebuyers from obtaining a mortgage. Neither administration officials nor industry participants, however, spoke on or off the record about the things that were discussed during the Sept. 17 meeting at the White House. It was also unclear whether both sides have agreed on any solutions to the issues that lenders say are preventing them from lending. Sources, however, said one major issue is lenders’ uncertainty about their legal responsibilities and liabilities, which already have cost the industry billions of dollars in massive legacy settlements. Lenders have complained that even the slightest loan paperwork error could force them out of the ...

FHA total originations rose 9.9 percent month-over-month in July as purchase mortgage activity continued to rise, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of agency data. Lenders produced a combined $13.01 billion in new FHA-insured mortgages, up from $11.85 billion in June. Purchase mortgages accounted for 81.9 percent of total FHA production during July, the latest month for which FHA originations data were available. The July increase reflects an upward monthly trend in FHA lending that began in March, when FHA originations totaled $8.74 billion. Production then climbed steadily to $10.36 billion in April, $10.61 billion in May and $11.85 billion in June. Originations jumped 16.0 percent from the first to the second quarter. A recent analysis by affiliated publication Inside Mortgage Finance found that most of Ginnie Mae’s purchase activities (FHA, VA and rural housing loans) in the ...

The increase in mortgage debt outstanding in the third quarter of 2013 increasingly looks like an aberration rather than a turning point.

In the non-QM space, Lake Sunapee Bank serves a large number of self-employed borrowers, medical professionals, high net-worth retirees, and first-time homebuyers.

Skyline declined to name the company’s non-QM investor. “We have an investor who has created a shelf,” is all the CEO would say on the topic.

With loan originations beginning to taper off this fall and expected to continue that way through yearend, lenders of different stripes likely will step up their sales of mortgage servicing rights in an attempt to make earnings projections. “There’s a ton of activity out there now,” said Tom Piercy, managing member of Interactive Mortgage Advisors, Denver, an MSR advisory and brokerage firm. “We’re the busiest we’ve ever been all year.” Mark Garland, president of MountainView Servicing Group, concurs...

Ocwen Financial – once the largest buyer of “legacy” mortgage servicing rights in the secondary market – is mostly sitting on the sidelines these days when it comes to buying new product. According to servicing advisors and industry officials familiar with the company, the nonbank has been selectively bidding on smaller pools, staying away from larger deals. Meanwhile, Ocwen still hopes...

Mortgage lenders reported $1.762 trillion in new purchase-money and refinance originations during 2013 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of the data released by federal agencies this week. HMDA purchase and refinance originations were down 12.4 percent from 2012, with the biggest decline in refi activity, off 26.2 percent. Purchase-mortgage lending was up in both the government-insured market (up 1.3 percent) and conventional originations (up 32.5 percent). Even with the sharp downturn in business, refinance originations accounted...[Includes one data chart]