Inventories and disposition times for commercial mortgage assets in special servicing as of year-end 2013 rose modestly compared to year-end 2012 as highly rated servicers moved real estate-owned inventories efficiently, according to a new Fitch Ratings analysis of the commercial mortgage-backed securities market. Analysts with Fitch’s CMBS Group found that REO assets as a percentage of specially serviced portfolios have grown for three of the largest ...

Correspondent sellers fret that some of the largest players might shut the door on them for a different reason: they can’t deliver enough volume in an origination-challenged market.

Waiting for a large merger or acquisition to happen in the mortgage market is a bit like waiting for Godot: there’s plenty of talk about his arrival, but he may never show. “Right now there’s a large discrepancy between what the buyer wants to pay and what the seller wants to sell at,” said Chuck Klein, managing partner in Mortgage Banking Solutions, Austin, TX. “Any company that’s making money will not sell at just book value.” One large company that likely will not be sold this year is...

American Capital Agency Corp., the second-largest REIT MBS investor, reported a sharp 14.6 percent drop in its holdings during the first quarter. But officials are upbeat about the future.

The buyer originates mortgages in roughly six western states and is looking to expand into the East Coast to help fill its pipeline.

According to interviews conducted by IMFnews, many nonbanks lost money in January and February but began to see better results in March.

But there was some good news: Jumbos accounted for 18.7 percent of total originations in the first quarter of 2014, a level not seen since 2004.

So what’s stressing the mortgage industry out? Regulations, more regulations – and litigation and the threat thereof.

Endorsement of FHA-insured reverse mortgages rose in the first quarter of 2014, although lenders say it may just be trailing figures reflecting the lag time between closing and approval for FHA insurance. Home Equity Conversion Mortgage guarantees totaled $4.0 billion in the first quarter, up 16.4 percent from the end of the fourth quarter in 2013 and up 4.1 percent from the same period last year, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of agency data. Home purchase accounted for 92.7 percent of HECM volume but only 14.5 percent were fixed-rate. Initial principal amount at loan origination totaled $2.4 billion. The 16.4 percent increase was more likely due to the fact that a huge number of reverse mortgages closed in November and December were not insured by FHA until January, said Josh Moran, vice president of wholesale lending at Live Well Financial. Some lenders who delayed reporting to ... [1 chart]