Retail loan originations account for most new VA lending, but the correspondent channel plays an outsized role in the FHA market, especially in purchase-mortgage lending, according to a new analysis of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities data by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Over half (51.1 percent) of VA loans securitized through Ginnie MBS in the first quarter of 2016 were retail originations, but only 39.1 percent of FHA loans came through that channel. The biggest source of FHA loans was correspondent lenders, which accounted for 45.8 percent of loans securitized during the first three months of this year. That was actually slightly below the 49.2 percent correspondent share of FHA loans back in 2014 and 46.8 percent last year. Correspondents accounted for well over half (53.9 percent) of FHA purchase mortgages during the first quarter, while playing a more ... [ 3 charts ]
The California Reinvestment Coalition last week called upon the Department of Housing and Urban Development to impose a moratorium to prevent CIT Group and its servicing subsidiary, Financial Freedom, from initiating any more reverse mortgage foreclosures. The CRC’s request is based in part on data it obtained from HUD indicating an unusually high foreclosure rate for Financial Freedom/CIT Group.According to the data, Financial Freedom’s 39 percent share of reverse mortgage foreclosures since April 2009 is more than two times greater than the company’s estimated market share. The CRC began looking into Financial Freedom’s foreclosure history after receiving complaints from a number of widowed homeowners and other heirs about Freedom’s foreclosure practices, said Kevin Stein, CRC associate director. Stein said the CRC filed a data request under the ...
A past study commissioned by FEMA estimated that the areas designated as special flood areas will increase by 45 percent by the end of this century. In coastal areas, such designations would increase by 55 percent.