Other loan types also generally showed improved closing times.

“Home prices cannot rise faster than incomes and inflation indefinitely.” – David Blitzer, managing director of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones.

The retail channel accounted for 91.7 percent of Wells Fargo’s jumbo production during the first nine months of 2016…

Mortgage origination and sales continued to rack up hefty earnings during the third quarter of 2016, but a rebound in servicing profits had an even bigger impact on the bottom line, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of earnings reports from 13 major public companies. With a combined $189.5 billion in mortgage originations during the period, the 13 firms reported $2.38 billion in production and secondary-marketing income. That was up ... [Includes one data chart]

Loan origination and secondary marketing pushed profits to a four-year high during the third quarter of 2016, according the latest Mortgage Bankers Performance Report released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The average mortgage-banking entity earned $3.492 million in net income after adjustments during the third quarter, the MBA reported. That was up 42.8 percent from the previous period and represented the highest average profit since the fourth quarter of ...

Mortgage lenders that generate a lot of jumbo home loans tend to rely heavily on their retail production platforms, while third-party originators play a bigger role in agency-eligible production. That’s one finding from an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of exclusive survey data collected by Inside Mortgage Finance. Lenders participating in the survey reported that 80.3 percent of their third-quarter jumbo production came through their retail platforms ... [Includes two data charts]

Ginnie Mae late this month released an improved acknowledgement agreement that aims to bolster the liquidity of nonbanks seeking to borrow against the asset value of their mortgage servicing rights. In an interview with Inside Mortgage Trends, Ginnie President Ted Tozer noted that one of the chief aims of the exercise was to offer clarifications to financiers that they, as lenders, would have no legal liability should the servicer of record default on their Ginnie bond payments. “There is no liability for ...

The share of purchase mortgages that closed on time increased in recent months, according to results from the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The improved closing performance occurred as home sales declined and interest rates on mortgages started to rise. Some 68.4 percent of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac purchase mortgages with private mortgage insurance tied to home sales in November closed on time, based on a three-month moving average ...

Mortgage insurance stocks have been rallying the past month, climbing to 52-week highs, thanks in part to the “Trump rally” and the belief that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have a future after all. Six short months ago, the sector was in the tank with investors fearing that another cut in FHA premiums would erode their market share. The premium cut didn’t happen, and there’s a growing belief that the incoming Trump administration will favor the private sector – and not the FHA – taking on more risk ...

The rise in mortgage rates after the November election gave many lenders the blues, triggering a plunge in near-term expectations for loan demand as well as a big drop in anticipated profit margins over the next three months, according to the latest lender survey from Fannie Mae. Forty six percent of respondents expect profits to decrease. Lenders’ profit margin outlook now is the worst in three years, according to the government-sponsored enterprise. “Lenders reported a significant net negative ...