Ginnie Mae securitized fewer rural home loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the second quarter of 2015 compared to the previous quarter, according to analysis of agency data. A total of $8.4 billion of USDA loans were securitized during the first six months of 2015, down 2.1 percent from the same period last year. Securitization volume also dropped by as much quarter over quarter. Chase led all USDA securitizers with $2.6 billion in loans securitized during the first half of the year for a commanding 30.4 share of the market. Wells Fargo funneled $1.1 billion in USDA loans into Ginnie MBS, resulting in a 13.1 market share, while PennyMac delivered $609.7 million for securitization. U.S. Bank closed the first half with $260.3 million in securitized USDA mortgages despite a 31.4 percent drop in the second quarter. Pacific Union Financial rounded out the top five USDA loan securitizers with ... [ chart ]
FHA lenders funded $7.8 billion in new Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans during the first half of 2015, up 8.2 percent from the same period a year ago. HECM loan production was slower in the second quarter with originations down 1.1 percent from the prior quarter. Purchase loans accounted for 86.1 percent of all HECM transactions during the first six months. Interestingly, borrower bias against adjustable-rate loans appeared to have eased. Fixed-rate HECMs accounted for only 15.4 percent of originations during the first half of the year. Initial principal amount at loan origination totaled $4.6 billion over the same period. On a fiscal year-to-date basis, the FHA reported a total of 53,372 HECM endorsements, up from 47,662 HECM endorsements in fiscal YTD 2014. Meanwhile, HECM endorsed cases increased to 5,750 in August compared to ... [ chart ]
Officials from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Wells Fargo and other industry players are set to provide an update on qualified mortgages and other CFPB initiatives...
Under the new policy, corporations must provide the DOJ with all relevant facts about individuals involved in corporate misconduct if they hope to get leniency or credit for cooperation in the investigation.
Originations of jumbo mortgages rose sharply during the second quarter of 2015, including loans in high-cost housing markets that are eligible for agency mortgage-backed securities, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. During the second quarter, the market produced a whopping $127.6 billion of home mortgages that exceeded the $417,000 benchmark conforming loan limit, a 33.1 percent increase from the first three months of the year. Jumbo mortgages accounted for 28.7 percent of second-quarter originations, the highest ratio since “emergency” high-cost limits were set back in 2008. Most of the jumbo production was...[Includes three data tables]
Now that interest rates have stopped falling – at least, for now – the servicing acquisition market has shifted into high gear with talk of a steady stream of both flow and bulk transactions through the remainder of 2015. “This could turn out to be one of the best quarters of the year for sales,” said Mark Garland, president of MountainView Servicing Group, Denver. “If it’s not the best, it could be close.” Tom Piercy, managing member of Interactive Mortgage Advisors, noted...
Institutional investors are beginning to have major doubts about certain mortgage stocks, reducing their positions in companies such as PHH Corp. and Ocwen Financial as they struggle to present convincing evidence that better days are ahead – especially with 2016 just months away. Ocwen, in particular, has been savaged by investors over the past 18 months, its share price falling from an all-time high of $60 to $5.66. This past summer, Ocwen’s share price stabilized somewhat before getting clobbered early this week after disclosing that it expects to post a loss for all of 2015. For many investors it has...