Mortgage origination activity dropped sharply in early 2011 and momentum is pointing toward further declines as the housing market limps into a new buying season. Mortgage lenders generated an estimated $325.0 billion in single-family originations during the first three months of the year, a decline of... [Includes two data charts]

The outgoing president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City turned some heads this week when he declared that the nation’s largest banks and recipients of federal bailout funds should be re-branded as government-sponsored enterprises and their lending activities should be curtailed accordingly. Thomas Hoenig reportedly told...

Two of the nation’s top mortgage lenders have announced some hefty job cuts as the industry appears headed into a steep drop in new originations in 2011. Bank of America announced late this week that it is adjusting...[Includes one data chart]

Generation “Y” has a huge mortgage appetite, and despite the housing market crash in 2008 and the difficulty of getting a home loan, many of its members think they will become homeowners – and sooner rather than later, according to a recent study conducted by Lachman Associates. “These are happy optimists – which is...

A number of the top mortgage lending financial institutions are finding increasing success in reaching potential homebuyers via their Internet websites, but they’re not satisfied there. Some are stepping up...

Private mortgage insurers continued paying MI premiums to captive reinsurance entities sponsored by mortgage lenders in 2010, but the payment flow declined further in a business arrangement that is gradually winding down. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of annual private MI regulatory filings reveals... [Includes one data chart and one graph]

Top mortgage banking operations reported a significant downturn in production-related earnings during the fourth quarter of 2010, but the aggregate results mostly reflected severe buyback expenses at one of the industry’s largest lenders. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of earnings reports from nine mortgage lenders found...[Includes one data chart and one graph]

Banks reported a huge 41 percent drop in the volume of mortgage repurchases and indemnifications made during the fourth quarter of 2010, but most major institutions say the problem isn’t over yet. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call report data reveals that banks repurchased...[Includes three data charts]

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks all recorded significant declines in new debt issuance during 2010. The GSEs collectively issued $3.454 trillion in new debt during 2010, a decline of 25.3 percent from the previous year. New issuance effectively just replaced...[Includes one data chart]

Mortgage banking continued to be very profitable for most of the hundreds of banks involved in the industry in 2010, but earnings fell significantly from the previous year, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends. Newly released call report data show...[Includes one data chart and one graph]