It’s no secret that aggressive mortgage banking firms are recruiting top executives and loan officers away from other firms. One of the busiest recruiters that we know of its Mortgage Master of Walpole, MA.

The first quarter of 2014 marked the lowest point in mortgage banking income for depositories since the second quarter of 2011.

If you take away all the one-time gains at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two are barely profitable. Right?

A new poll on the Inside Mortgage Finance website tells the story: Just 24 percent of respondents want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac taken out to the Jersey Meadowlands by Luca Brasi. (Leave the gun, take the cannolis.)

Mortgage servicing rights will never trade as freely as mortgage-backed securities, but agency officials say they are considering ways to facilitate the increasingly active MSR market. “The market is undergoing tremendous changes with great opportunities in mortgage servicing,” said Bob Ryan, a special advisor at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, during last week’s Secondary Market Conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. “It has attracted ...

Reset issues in the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program will begin to surface in 2016 and worsen in later years, but the impact will be less severe than predicted, according to a new commentary by the Urban Institute. Analysts with the institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center said HAMP resets will be a challenge for many borrowers, particularly those who received the steepest interest rate reduction. “However, we are likely years away from ...

State regulators note that their concerns about nonbanks relate to significant growth in recent months prompted in part by increased capital requirements for banks.

Mortgage bankers increasingly are complaining about a lack of homes to buy as one reason why originations are down this year.

Construction-to-permanent loans are picking up a head of steam in certain markets. “Down here [in Florida] it’s extremely hot,” said Joe Adamaitis, vice president and residential lending manager for Insignia Bank.

New margin rules for broker-dealers may trip up mortgage bankers using mortgage-backed securities to hedge their businesses, according to experts discussing various liquidity issues during last week’s Secondary Market Conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Fannie Mae has traditionally reserved the right to invoke margin calls if the government-sponsored enterprise needed to, even before the Treasury Practices Market Group issued new best practices on the subject, said Renee Schultz, a Fannie vice president, but this right was rarely used. When the TPMG recommendation came out, it appeared to be aimed at systemic risk. But since it was addressed to all broker-dealers, Fannie adopted it. Fannie has implemented...