One warehouse chief even suggested that in 1Q19, as many as 70 percent of nonbanks will lose money before the spring homebuying season kicks in.

Through the first nine months of the year, mortgage banking income was up 20.9 percent from the same period in 2017.

In 2017, MLO license growth was strong at 8.9 percent annualized, but not this year…

A huge chunk of the fall-off in Fannie/Freddie MBS holdings occurred at Wells Fargo, which reduced its investment in these securities by $7.31 billion.

Altisource has a stock repurchase plan in place that expires at Dec. 31…

The vast majority of commercial banks and savings institutions that have mortgage banking operations post positive results from those activities, but overall profitability fell significantly in the third quarter of 2018. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data reveals the banking industry earned $4.025 billion from mortgage banking during the three-month period ending in September. That was down 14.5 percent from the second quarter, when ... [Includes one data chart]

Retail-originated loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae during the third quarter generally had stronger credit scores than similar loans produced by third-party lenders, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of loan-level data. The average credit score for a retail purchase loan pooled in an agency mortgage-backed security during the period was 735.47, compared with 720.20 for correspondent purchase ... [Includes two data charts]

Rising interest rates aren’t a major inhibitor of demand for purchase mortgages but they have reduced housing inventory, according to Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American. “Rising mortgage rates create a financial disincentive for existing homeowners with low mortgage rates from selling their homes,” he said in an analysis this week. “This phenomenon impacts both sides of the supply-and-demand dynamic – those who don’t sell, don’t buy either.” First American, a title insurance ...

It’s that time of the year again: Declining originations mixed with seasonality are causing consternation among residential originators, with lay-off notices proliferating at shops both large and small. However, a greater sense of panic is beginning to seep in this time around. Rates are the highest they’ve been in several years and the purchase-money sector is beginning to look long in the tooth. The nation’s largest home lender, Wells Fargo, recently announced plans to chop 900 ...

A Chicago-based specialty mortgage servicer is combining crowdsource funding and loss mitigation to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes while at the same time encouraging investors to be socially responsible. AHP Servicing recently announced a $50 million offering under Regulation A of the federal Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, to help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure. Reg A is one of several exemptions under the JOBS Act that excludes firms from ...