The Standard and Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for October saw “a modest glimmer of hope.” The indices, which track the price-path for single family homes in 20 national urban centers, saw a 0.2 percent increase from August for the 10- and 20-city composites. Home prices are still lower than they were at this time in 2010 in most cities, Detroit (2.7 percent) and Washington DC (0.3 percent) being the only two markets to post positive annual returns. However, according to David Blitzer, S&P’s chairman of the index committee, 16 of 20 cities and both composites saw their annual rates of change improve in...
The U.S. Senate voted late last week to approve an amendment to a federal spending bill that was offered by Sens. Bob Menendez, D-NJ, and Johnny Isakson, R-GA, to reinstate the higher loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration that expired on Sept. 30. Those limits dropped to $625,500 in a number of high-cost markets on Oct. 1, and would be restored to $729,750 through December 2013 under the Menendez/Isakson amendment. The National Association of Home Builders was pleased.
Buyback risk is raising costs throughout the mortgage industry and causing lenders to boost cred-it standards beyond the levels required by investors, according to several experts at last week’s annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “The industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in repurchases and defending repurchases,” said David Stevens, chairman and CEO of the MBA. At a time when lenders are being pushed to “keep skin in the game,” a 5 percent risk-retention requirement for securitization might almost seem like a better deal than the costly repurchase process, he added. Brian Chappelle said...
MetLife announced last week that it wants to sell its mortgage banking business, but regulatory and legal issues that are partly driving the firm’s retreat may also make it hard to find a buyer. Nowadays, starting from scratch may make more sense than buying someone else’s problems. MetLife explained in a press release that the decision was prompted by an “uncertain marketplace and regulatory environment [that requires] a tremendous amount of resources – both in terms of people and capital – to effectively compete in and profitably grow the forward mortgage business. Doing so would divert these resources away from...
Small and mid-sized lenders participating in the Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities program may gain more financing flexibility – and a more competitive footing against the giants in the market – as the agency makes it easier to pledge mortgage servicing rights. Ginnie this week announced a revised Acknowledgement Agreement that will make it simpler for the agency to honor servicing pledges and permit the transfer of MSRs. Until now, Ginnie servicers that need cash to honor their servicing advance responsibilities have not been able to put their MSRs up as collateral for financing, explained Ted Tozer, president of Ginnie Mae, in...
After negotiating with a potential buyer, Bank of America gave up trying to sell its correspondent business and will simply shut the program down by the end of the year, leaving a huge potential hole in the market. The rumored bidder, NationStar Mortgage, reportedly wanted a higher price than BofA was willing to pay to take the correspondent unit off the bank’s hands. “After a comprehensive review of market opportunities, Bank of America will close its correspondent lending channel by the end of 2011, following an orderly transition with clients,” the company said in a written statement. BofA, which had already...
Servicers face increased costs to meet new loss mitigation requirements. However, servicers at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual conference this week in Chicago said they have accepted the costs as a trade-off for decreased liability. “We focus on profitability, but you still have to do quality,” said Kent Lemon, a senior vice president at Saxon Mortgage Services. He said the servicer constantly works on quality assurance. Saxon uses targeted performance monitoring of employees for the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act, fair servicing standards and other loan modification guidelines. Lemon said the servicer also...
Closer scrutiny of portfolio loan quality and growing repurchase demands have pushed mortgage software providers MasterServ Financial and The Prieston Group to develop products to help lenders manage their portfolio risks and reduce buyback risks. MasterServ Financial, a technology solution provider to the mortgage banking industry, is expanding its portfolio monitoring product from distressed real estate loans and REO management to new portfolios of performing mortgage loans. With the shift in real estate values, a weak economy and high unemployment rate, it is very difficult to determine whether the loans in a lender’s portfolio today are...
Despite low mortgage rates and home prices, significant barriers still stand in the way of a potential first-time homebuyer. A new tax-preferred mechanism for downpayment savings could work towards lowering these barriers, with the added benefit of incentivizing saving habits, according to a policy brief from the Progressive Policy Institute. The “HomeK” account would be carved out of savings mechanisms such as individual retirement accounts and 401(k) accounts allowing a person to separate up to 50 percent of employee contributions into a sub-account. Account-holders could then disburse their money to make a...
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