Some good news: Fannie chief economist Doug Duncan said continued strength in borrower demographics and the labor market offer hope that conditions should stabilize in 2019 and may even improve.
Issuance of single-family MBS by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae held steady in No-vember, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of securities disclosures. [Includes two data charts.]
The outstanding volume of mortgages serviced for other investors by banks and thrifts has been falling almost constantly in the aftermath of the financial crisis, but the third quarter of 2018 saw a relatively rare increase. Banks and thrifts serviced $3.627 trillion of residential mortgages for other investors – typically mortgage-backed securities trusts – at the end of September, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data ... [Includes one data chart]
Retail originations declined more than third-party production in the three major mortgage-product categories during the third quarter of 2018, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends. Based on survey data from a broad cross-section of lenders, retail originations fell 8.8 percent from the second to the third quarter. The wholesale-broker sector was down 1.9 percent, while correspondent production posted a 1.9 percent increase. The data ... [Includes two data charts]
Two federal banking regulators have raised concerns about risks associated with nonbanks gaining market share in the mortgage industry. In a report published this week, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said banks are loosening mortgage underwriting standards in response to “intense competition” from nonbanks. The OCC cited higher thresholds for back-end debt-to-income ratios, higher acceptable loan-to-value ratios and lower downpayment requirements. The trends were ...