A variety of factors could cause a significant decrease to the homeownership rate in the coming years, according to industry analysts. Under a scenario where the housing market resembles the current market in California and high-income European countries, the U.S. could shift to having a majority of renters instead of homeowners in 35 years. In a paper set to be published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Arthur Acolin, Laurie Goodman and Susan Wachter projected that the homeownership rate will decline from 63.4 percent in 2015 to 57.9 percent in 2050. Acolin is a PhD student at the University of Southern California, Goodman is the director of the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center and Wachter is a professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The researchers said...

Eight of the top 10 jumbo producers in 2015 were banks...

But is the mega-lender advocating for consumers or is it another bold attempt to gain market share and thus increase profits? Industry consultant David Lykken noted: “Quicken’s being smart – they’re using their leverage.”

Caliber is owned by Lone Star Funds, which was hoping to take the nonbank public one day…

In the spring of 2014, Wornow left Morgan Stanley as managing director and head of its MBS trading desk.

A few days later, Ditech filed notice with the SEC that the company would pay Patti Cook a $300,000 bonus for her service to the company...

Trends in demand for non-QM jumbos were more clear-cut, with 25.4 percent of 59 banks reporting that demand was weaker…

Borrower demand for jumbo mortgages declined somewhat in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter, and banks plan on loosening underwriting standards for the loans, according to the Federal Reserve’s senior loan officer opinion survey. Industry participants stress that underwriting standards for jumbos remain strong, with poor performance unlikely. Senior LOs were asked to evaluate demand for purchase mortgages in the fourth quarter of 2015 ...

The FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund is projected to generate $9.1 billion in profits in FY 2017 but officials say they will not be reducing mortgage insurance premiums any time soon. Released this week, the White House’s proposed budget projects FHA will insure $204 billion in new forward, single-family mortgages with a negative credit subsidy of 4.42 percent for each loan, resulting in a projected profit of $9.1 billion. In fiscal 2016, the program is expected to generate $7.7 billion in profits. Separately, for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, the proposed budget is projecting $18.5 billion in new reverse mortgage loans with a negative credit rate of 0.33 percent, netting $61 million in profits. During a budget briefing, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro said there are no plans to change the current mortgage insurance premium. “We want to ensure our ...

The Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors have recommended policy changes the VA Home Loan Guaranty program could adopt to make it work better for veteran borrowers. The two industry groups offered their recommendations during a hearing before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity on the VA program. Testifying on behalf of the MBA, James Danis, president of Residential Mortgage Corp., urged the VA to issue a clear, final qualified mortgage rule for VA lending. The agency has had an interim final rule on QM and ability to repay in place since May 9, 2014, when it was published in the Federal Register. The VA recently issued guidance for lenders to better understand the standards but gave no indication as to when a final rule will be released. Danis recommended that the final rule provide an ample implementation period to ...