The spring homebuying season fueled a relatively modest increase in production of Ginnie Mae single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2018, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending ranking and analysis. Lenders issued $98.66 billion of Ginnie MBS backed by forward mortgages during the April-May cycle. That was up 6.6 percent from the first three months of the year, but 2018 continued to lag behind the pace set in 2017 by 10.7 percent. Given current trends, annual Ginnie MBS issuance in 2018 could fall short of the $400 billion mark for the first time since 2014. The flow of FHA and VA purchase mortgages was up a solid 23.7 percent from the first to the second quarter, bringing the total for the first half of the year to $121.01 billion. However, that was down 4.7 percent from the same period in 2017. Ginnie securitized $75.02 billion of FHA purchase loans in the ... [Charts]
Freddie Mac plans to launch a new servicing transfer tool within the next couple of weeks, part of a broader effort by the government-sponsored enterprises to enhance liquidity in mortgage servicing rights.
There was an increase in the volume of home loans lenders had to buy back from the government-sponsored enterprises in the first quarter of 2018, but repurchase activity remained subdued. [Includes two data charts.]
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae are relying more heavily on special rules that grant most of their single-family business qualified-mortgage status even if the debt-to-income ratio of the loan exceeds 43 percent. [Includes two data charts.]
Ditech Financial, the nation’s 12th largest servicer of home mortgages, is officially on the auction block and it comes at a time when several nonbanks are heading for the exit ramp. Now, the big question: Can Ditech be sold in a stock transaction or will it be an asset sale?