Residential lenders and servicers alike are keeping a close eye on rising interest rates these days but for decidedly different reasons: Originators are feeling the pain of lower application volumes, while servicers are trying to figure out when they should cash in. For the shops that both lend and service, they’re hoping that the boom in mortgage servicing rights valuations will offset reduced income from loan closings. “I would say the mood is for caution,” said executive recruiter Rick Glass ...

The homeownership rate went up in 2017 on an annual basis for the first time since 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. After falling to the lowest level on record during 2016, the homeownership rate will likely continue to climb gradually, according to industry analysts. As of the end of 2017, the homeownership rate was 64.2 percent, up from 63.7 percent the prior year. When measured at year-end, the rate peaked at 69.2 percent in 2004. “After bouncing around near 50-year lows ...

Lending standards for most categories of residential real estate loans generally held steady in the third quarter of 2017, even as demand weakened, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest senior loan officer opinion survey. One big exception: Mortgages eligible to be securitized by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, where some easing of underwriting was detected. Banks generally “reported that standards for residential home purchase mortgage ...

Banks and thrifts reported a total of $3.12 billion in income on their mortgage-banking operations during the fourth quarter of 2017, a 12.6 percent downturn from the previous period, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call reports. The final lap of 2017 generated the weakest quarterly profit figure for the industry since the disastrous second quarter of 2011, when banks booked a massive $9.37 billion loss on mortgage banking. Most of that loss ... [Includes one data chart]

After surging to an unusually high level of 26.6 percent in 2016, market share for the VA home-loan guaranty program eased to 24.1 percent last year…

Prior to release of 4Q17 results, the GSEs had an “account balance” of $103.0 billion with Uncle Sam: $291.4 billion of dividends paid to Treasury versus $188.4 billion of assistance received.

This is the fourth in a series of RFIs announced as part of Acting Director Mick Mulvaney’s “call for evidence.”

The budget proposal calls for exempting “small lenders” – companies that generate about 20 percent of FHA business – from the IT fee.

Joshua Rosner, managing director of Graham Fisher & Co., states: “This sounds like the early stages of a utility model..."

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both suffered from what’s likely to be a one-time event that resulted in a hit on their earnings for the fourth quarter thanks to the late 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that impacted their deferred tax assets.