Mortgage originators selling loans into MBS last week likely were hit with “pair-off” fees from secondary-market investors who were expecting delivery of higher-yielding mortgages, a proposition complicated by the sudden downdraft in rates. As one secondary market executive noted: “A forward sale into an MBS is not a perfect hedge. Then again, nothing is a perfect hedge.” Originators that fund billions of dollars each quarter use...

The proposed fiscal year 2017 Ginnie Mae staff budget will meet current operational needs, but staffing for the long term will have to be reevaluated, according to GNMA President Ted Tozer. Tozer said the proposed agency budget of $23 million for personnel costs, “along with leveraging contractors and carefully prioritizing hires,” will meet the agency’s current needs. However, officials will take a hard look at its staffing requirements “from a long-term, strategic point of view,” he noted. Tozer was reportedly disappointed...

Commercial banks and savings institutions reported an unexpectedly strong $4.515 billion in mortgage-banking income during the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends ranking and analysis of call report data. The industry’s fourth-quarter results represented a solid 18.8 percent increase over the previous quarter, and it brought full-year mortgage-banking income to $18.474 billion – an 11.8 percent gain over 2014 ... [Includes one data chart]

Although lenders like to complain about the new integrated disclosure rule known as TRID, there has been one major benefit for people looking for employment in the mortgage industry: the controversial rule has created jobs at many lending shops. According to managers interviewed by Inside Mortgage Trends the past two weeks, almost across the board, originators have hired new staff to deal with compliance paperwork, the processes and the technology ...

The FHA insured more loans that were packaged in agency mortgage-backed securities last year than any of its rivals in the primary mortgage-insurance business, but private mortgage companies came out on top in the purchase-mortgage sector. FHA loans accounted for 38.8 percent of insured mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae last year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of MBS loan-level data ... [Includes one data chart]

Competition for originations by brokers is set to intensify as PennyMac Financial Services is preparing to enter the wholesale channel. Company officials said the nonbank is aiming to have a “leadership role” in terms of volume among wholesale lenders. “The wholesale channel currently comprises approximately 10 percent of the total mortgage market, and we believe there is a significant opportunity in this channel for a company like PennyMac Financial, with the strong ...

Utilizing a sophisticated analytical capability to assess end-to-end profitability of products, channels and operating units and better manage the economics and risks of the portfolio can provide a powerful boost to mortgage servicing operations – and some of the most intelligently run organizations are already reaping the rewards of doing so, according to a recent white paper by PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Today, many companies rely on general ledger reporting and ...

More than 100 members of Congress expressed serious concern over a Department of Labor proposal to revise the existing overtime rule for white-collar employees, fearing it would adversely impact employers, including those in the mortgage industry. A joint bipartisan letter to DOL Secretary Thomas Perez signed by 108 House members said expanding overtime protections to help more workers, as proposed by the DOL, would end up hurting them and ...

Analysts at the Federal Reserve found a substantially large reduction in homeownership due to student-loan debt in recent years. The analysts said their research is more detailed than previous studies on the issue because the Fed analysts had access to extensive data on student-loan borrowers. “We find that a 10 percent increase in student-loan debt causes a 1 percentage point to 2 percentage point drop in the homeownership rate for student-loan borrowers ...

The first-time homebuyer share of home purchases increased for the second consecutive month in January, according to results from the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The increase is part of a seasonal trend where first-time homebuyers take market share from current homeowners as part of the spring homebuying season, though there could be some constraints on first-time homebuyer activity this year. First-time buyers accounted for 35.9 percent of home purchases in January, based on a three-month moving average. Their share increased from a trough of 35.1 percent in November. The current homeowner share of home purchases in that time declined from 49.2 percent to 47.8 percent, with investors also gaining some share from current homeowners. Tom Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys, noted...