NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun: “The way they have raised premiums and fees – the way I view it and what I hear from Realtors – is essentially they are ripping off consumers. It’s almost as if HUD needs to be turned over to the CFPB to be investigated"...
A healthy housing recovery boosted mortgage origination volume during the second quarter of 2014, but production remains at relatively sluggish levels, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Single-family mortgage originations totaled an estimated $295 billion during the second quarter, up 25.5 percent from the first three months of the year. The first quarter of 2014 was the worst production environment for the mortgage industry since the end of 2000, even falling below the mark set at the depth of the financial crises in the fourth quarter of 2008. In fact, the most recent April-to-June cycle brought...[Includes three data charts]
The first-time homebuyer share of home purchases has increased for four consecutive months, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. First-time homebuyer activity tends to increase through the spring homebuying season, but the first-time homebuyer share is at particularly high levels this year. First-time homebuyers accounted for 37.2 percent of home purchases in June, based on a three-month moving average. That was up from a 34.2 percent share in March, and the last time the first-time homebuyer share of home purchases was at 37.2 percent was September 2010. According to real estate agents, first-time buyers appear...
New issuance of non-mortgage ABS dropped slightly during the second quarter of 2014 from the robust levels recorded in the first quarter of 2014, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. A total of $49.14 billion of non-mortgage ABS were issued during the April-to-June cycle, an 8.0 percent decline from the first quarter of 2014. But new issuance remained...[Includes three data charts]
In the past two weeks, BlackRock has completed auctions of vintage non-agency MBS with a total unpaid principal balance of $8.1 billion. While the sales had the potential to push too much supply into the market, investor demand for the securities appears to have been strong. The market absorbed the first auction, for $3.7 billion in mostly subprime MBS from 2006, “without a hiccup,” according to analysts at Barclays Capital. Credit Suisse submitted winning bids on all of the non-agency MBS auctioned by BlackRock in the past two weeks, with most of the securities quickly being placed with other investors, indicating strong demand. Of the $3.7 billion in non-agency MBS auctioned last week, 96 percent of the balance was placed...
More than two years have passed since Bank of America parted ways with Fannie Mae on selling new purchase-money loans to the government-sponsored enterprise and no remedy seems in sight regarding a resolution to the matter. “There’s no change that I’m aware of related to the Fannie Mae situation,” said a spokesman for the bank. “We’re able to handle our loan origination business just fine with Freddie Mac.” According to figures compiled by Inside MBS & ABS, BofA did sell...
MBS from Freddie Mac backed by modified mortgages offer investors protection from prepayment risk in an environment in which interest rates are expected to climb, according to analysts at Barclays Capital. The analysts said Freddie’s H-pools are particularly attractive, as the loans in the deals have been restructured under the Home Affordable Modification Program. Slightly more than $1.0 billion in H-pools have been issued, with the most recent activity in October. Barclays noted that Freddie could significantly increase its issuance of H-pools as the government-sponsored enterprise has accumulated a substantial amount of modified mortgages in its retained portfolio in recent years. Freddie had...
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