A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of publicly-traded lender earnings reports reveals that profitability fell on both the production side and loan servicing. A group of 12 major lenders reported a combined $1.15 billion in production-related income for the first quarter, a 3.1 percent drop from the previous period. That outcome doesn’t look so bad in light of the fact that the group’s total origination volume was down 5.3 percent from the fourth quarter ... [Includes one data chart]

Mortgage lenders of different charters and sizes are in a hiring mode as the summer approaches, thanks to continued low interest rates and a strong job market. Moreover, origination profits are picking up. All of this spells good news for anyone with mortgage experience – be it loan officers, underwriters and especially technology workers with software writing and compliance-related backgrounds. “Most of our hiring has been around the technology side of the business,” said ...

Consumers who apply for mortgages are much more likely to open new credit card accounts and take out auto loans than consumers overall, according to TransUnion, a firm that focuses on credit issues. A new study by TransUnion included 16.7 million consumers who paid off their mortgages and moved with new mortgages or refinanced their existing mortgages between the first quarter of 2013 and the second quarter of 2015. The study focused on borrowers with a VantageScore of ...

Walter’s stock price has declined by about 80 percent in the past year due to regulatory issues and other pressure on nonbank servicers...

The settlement agreement stemmed from a complaint filed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development against First Citizens Bank and Trust Co. in 2011 after an analysis of 2010 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.

Some 4.0 million mortgage borrowers had negative equity at the end of the first quarter of 2016, down 21.5 percent from the first quarter of 2015.

The deal is the first post-crisis nonprime MBS to receive a credit rating and it will be the largest post-crisis nonprime MBS issued to date.

New home-equity lending activity fell during the first quarter of 2016, but the market started the year well ahead of the pace in early 2015, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. New home-equity originations on home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages fell by 6.3 percent from the fourth quarter to an estimated $45.0 billion. However, that was up 18.4 percent from the first quarter of last year. The first-quarter drop in home-equity lending mirrored...[Includes three data tables]

Merger-and-acquisition activity in the mortgage sector has been relatively mild so far this year, but suddenly the table has turned with a handful of deals announced over the past two weeks and some lenders publicly stating their intentions as buyers. And one thing seems certain: It appears that all of the acquisitions will be accomplished through “asset” purchases as opposed to the acquisition of stock, be it private shares or otherwise. Early this week, Guild Mortgage, San Diego, inked...

Home prices in many areas have fully recovered from the declines seen during the financial crisis, according to a variety of home price indices. While prices above levels seen before the financial crisis could cause alarms about another housing bubble, Sean Becketti, chief economist at Freddie Mac, is seeking to ease concerns. Last week, Freddie economists published an in-depth analysis of home price trends and median household income. They said the house price-to-income ratio appears to be the clearest indicator of the long-run sustainability of house prices. And even the PTI ratios that are relatively high in specific areas don’t necessarily indicate that there’s another housing bubble. “Based on this approach, we’re...