After a pilot jumbo mortgage loan program between the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago and Redwood Trust kicked off this quarter and expanded into a full roll-out beginning June 1, it was announced this week that the loan limit will just about double. The new single-family loan limit for the Mortgage Partnership Finance Direct program will increase from the current $729,750 to $1.5 million in the third quarter. The MPF Direct loan limit was raised primarily to help members that operate in urban or other areas where home prices are higher than the national average, said John Stocchetti, an executive vice president at the FHLB Chicago and group head of the MPF program.

In fact, 2014 was the first year since 2006 that purchase mortgages accounted for more than half of total residential originations.

Over the past year, RPM has been in the hunt to buy other mortgage companies, investment banking sources told IMFnews.

Some lenders have predicted delays ranging from a few days to more than a month.

Over the past year speculators have placed some heavy bets against certain publicly traded mortgage companies by shorting their stocks, a “trade” that could be petering out as investors take their money off the table. According to investors and analysts who track companies such as Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial and Walter Investment Management, the share price of all three has fallen so dramatically that the days of easy profits are over. Ocwen, for example, presently trades...[Includes one data table]

Notice of the final order on PHH sent the nonbank’s share price tumbling four percent at one point. Regulators say the MI kickback scheme started as early as 1995.

Chuck Klein, managing director for Mortgage Banking Solutions, agrees that most of the coming M&A activity will center on small- and medium-sized shops.

The findings were based on results supplied by 359 residential originators.

Portfolio holdings of mortgages also have increased at a faster rate for smaller banks than larger ones.

In partnership with former Lehman Brothers Managing Director Brian Libman, Blackstone is trying to carry out a “roll-up” strategy...