Private mortgage insurers ended the third quarter of 2014 on a strong note, increasing their combined volume of net premiums written to $1.05 billion, up 9.8 percent from the prior quarter and 2.8 percent over the first nine months compared to the same period a year ago, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of industry data. Based on the upward production trend over the last three quarters, it appears the private MIs are on their way to a strong close at year end ...

Downpayment requirements play a larger role than interest rates in whether a potential borrower can afford a mortgage, according to new research from staff at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Potential borrowers who are less wealthy are particularly sensitive to downpayment requirements. Andreas Fuster and Basit Zafar, senior economists at the NY Fed, designed a survey in which respondents are asked for their maximum willingness to pay for a home comparable to their current home ...

The key factor is that some mortgage originators, the megabanks especially, are keeping conventional loans in portfolio that might otherwise be securitized by Fannie and Freddie.

A proposed FHA administrative fee as high as 4 basis points to fund quality assurance enforcement and technology upgrades also went down in flames.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors is working on capital requirements for nonbank servicers, a story first reported by Inside Mortgage Finance last month.

Compared to two years ago, staffing levels at the CFPB have increased a whopping 55 percent. Of course, Congress has no say over the agency’s budget.

But is DocMagic president and CEO Dominic Iannitti done buying? Stay tuned…

CalCap is about to enter the Phoenix market and is considering other western states as well.

However, NAR found that the willingness to actually originate non-QMs declined significantly across a number of different product types...

All three agencies saw double-digit declines in new production, but Fannie Mae experienced the the biggest decline.