FHA saw a modest rise in originations midway through 2016 compared to the same period last year, but VA did a lot better with a double-digit increase in loan production, according to an analysis of Ginnie Mae data. Lenders delivered $123.0 billion of FHA-insured loans to Ginnie pools during the first half of 2016, up 8.4 percent from the previous year. FHA’s midyear production was driven by a surge in purchase-mortgage lending in the second quarter, which also pushed volume higher for VA as well as conventional-conforming mortgages. Government-backed lending rose 32.3 percent from the first quarter to approximately $131.0 billion in second-quarter originations, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliate publication of Inside FHA/VA Lending. It was the highest three-month total for government-insured lending on record, although private mortgage insurance did more business in the ... [2 charts]

The nation’s subservicers increased their base of contracts to $1.615 trillion in the second quarter, a modest 1.6 percent gain from the prior period, but a handsome 17.0 percent improvement from the same period a year earlier, according to survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. Overall, these third-party processing vendors – who split the monthly fee with the actual owner of the servicing strip – control 15.9 percent of all residential mortgage debt in the nation. A year ago the reading was 14.0 percent. And it’s...[Includes one data table]

Rushmore Loan Management Services, Irvine, CA – a subservicing specialist – plans to enter the origination market early next month, a rarity for firms whose forte is processing loans for others. Company CEO Terry Smith told Inside Mortgage Finance that the nonbank’s direct-to-consumer arm is scheduled to begin funding loans on Sept. 1. “Our focus will be on originating loans – and servicing those loans,” Smith said. He also noted...

Underwriting standards for jumbo non-qualified mortgages were largely unchanged in the second quarter of 2016 compared with the previous period, according to the Federal Reserve’s senior loan officer opinion survey. Some 53 respondents didn’t change their underwriting standards for the loans compared with the previous quarter, while three respondents loosened underwriting for the loans “somewhat” and two tightened somewhat. Four of the ... [Includes two briefs]

Almost three months after word leaked out that Angel Oak Capital Advisors was working on a second nonprime MBS, the transaction has yet to come to market. Sources close to the company, maintain that a deal is still in the works – it’s just a matter of when. The company had planned to sell a roughly $150 million MBS backed by nonprime residential loans funded by affiliates Angel Oak Home Loans, a retail shop based in Atlanta, and Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions, a wholesaler that originates through loan brokers. Presently, the Angel Oak firms are churning out...

Two Harbors Investment and other nonbank conduits exited the jumbo market just before pricing for new jumbo mortgage-backed securities improved, according to industry participants. “The difference between a bulk sale execution and a Sequoia execution right now is only an eighth of a point,” Marty Hughes, CEO of Redwood Trust, said this week during the real estate investment trust’s earnings call. “That’s the tightest it’s probably been in a year and a half.” Christopher Abate, Redwood’s ...

Two Harbors Investment more than doubled its jumbo mortgage-backed security issuance in 2015 compared with the previous year, but the increase wasn’t enough to make it worthwhile for the real estate investment trust to continue operating a mortgage conduit. “As we look forward, the environment just was not one that was conducive to the continuation of the business,” Thomas Siering, Two Harbors’ president and CEO, said last week during the REIT’s earnings call. “The market ...

Many servicers increased their jumbo portfolios during the second quarter, including both banks and nonbanks, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. A group of 30 servicers handled an estimated $863.40 billion in jumbo mortgages as of the end of June, up 2.0 percent from the previous quarter and up 10.7 percent from the same time last year. Wells Fargo, the top jumbo lender, is also the largest jumbo servicer ... [Includes one data chart]

Among the top 15 subprime servicers, only Caliber Home Loans increased its portfolio during the second quarter of 2016, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Caliber handled $18.62 billion in subprime mortgages as of the end of June, up 4.4 percent from March. During that span, the total amount of subprime mortgage outstanding fell by 4.2 percent to an estimated $275.00 billion. Caliber has been originating ... [Includes one data chart]

Originations of non-qualified mortgages by Impac Mortgage Holdings declined in the second quarter of 2016 after rising steadily since the nonbank launched its non-QM program in 2014. Company officials pointed to low interest rates and demand for refinances of conventional mortgages for the decline. Impac originated $60.3 million in non-QMs in the second quarter, down from $74.0 million in originations in the first three months of the year. “Demand for non-QM loans has ...