FHA lenders funded $12.3 billion in new Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans during the first nine months of 2015, up a hefty 22.2 percent from the same period in the prior year, according to Inside FHA/VA Lending’s analysis of agency data. Likewise, HECM endorsements increased 17.3 percent to $4.5 billion in the third quarter from $3.9 billion in the prior quarter. This was the highest HECM endorsements have been since the second quarter of 2013, when they totaled $4.1 billion. Purchase loans accounted for 85.8 percent of all HECM originations over the nine-month period. The majority of borrowers favored adjustable-rate HECMs over fixed-rate HECMs, which accounted for only 14.8 percent of HECM transactions. In addition, the initial principal amount at loan originations totaled $7.3 billion, up from $4.6 billion midway through 2015. The volume increase is attributable to program changes implemented ... [1 chart]

A total of $13.6 billion of rural home loans backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture were securitized during the first nine months of 2015, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of agency data.An estimated $5.1 billion of USDA home loans were delivered into Ginnie Mae pools in the third quarter, up 22.8 percent from the prior quarter. In contrast, the nine-month securitization volume fell 4.4 percent from the same period of the prior year. Nine of the top 10 USDA loan securitizers reported quarter-over-quarter increases. Top-ranked Chase Home Finance maintained its lead over other USDA loan securitizers with $4.2 billion in loans securitized during the nine-month period, down 4.8 percent from the previous year and up 32.8 percent on a quarterly basis. Chase’s nine-month USDA volume translated into a 31.0 percent market share. Second-place Wells Fargo funneled $1.7 billion in USDA loans into ... [ chart ]

California also has the distinction of having one of the higher broker-GSE ratios in the nation: 21.5 percent.

In 2015, the two GSEs sold credit risk on about $407 billion of UPB through their back-end risk-transfer programs. The actual amount of credit risk transferred was $12.6 billion.

The new offering is in the $1 billion range. MorVest hopes to complete the sale by the end of January.

Ginnie Mae production topped Freddie Mac’s issuance in 2014 and was comfortably ahead after the first 11 months of this year.

However, the new PHH filing does not contain the names of any underwriters, dealers or agents.

“The buyer did exactly what the contract allowed it to do, namely, determine that a loan was defective and demand repurchase,” Judge Wollman wrote in his ruling.

The new approach is expected to be a more cost-effective route than going through the repeated repurchase requests that have plagued lenders over the years.

No purchase price was disclosed. The deal was first hinted at Friday on IMFnews.