Mortgage lenders delivered a hefty $218.29 billion of single-family mortgages into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of MBS disclosures made by the two government-sponsored enterprises. That was an increase of $45.32 billion over the first quarter, and 30.2 percent of the gain came from California, where total GSE loan sales jumped ... [Includes two data charts]

Lenders looking to boost refinance production as interest rates decline will be limited by the large number of borrowers who have already taken advantage of low rates in recent years, according to industry analysts. Applications for refis increased by 21.0 percent during the week of June 27, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, as interest rates declined with the United Kingdom’s vote to exit the European Union. The average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate ...

For most of the year, it’s been an unpleasant ride for the nation’s mortgage insurers: Ugly share price performance, lower revenues (though not awful), and the fear that any day now the FHA might lower its premiums and cut into private MI market share. But over the past few weeks, policy winds in Washington have shifted with analysts rethinking the short-term prospects for the sector. According to a recent report from FBR & Co., “policy ... [Includes one data chart]

Great Britain’s exit from the European Union has triggered a drop in mortgage rates that will have significant effects on the U.S. mortgage market, according to a recent analysis by the Urban Institute. UI’s analysis attributed the mortgage-rate drop to a decline in the 10-year Treasury rate, which fell from 1.74 percent. The rate fell to 1.46 percent on the day after the vote. The more capital continues swarming toward the safety of 10-year T-notes, the lower rates would fall ...

Younger loan applicants tend to have worse credit characteristics, but they also have more potential for higher earnings, according to a new analysis by CoreLogic. The firm recently provided details on the characteristics of loan applications by Millennials (born 1981 to 1997), Generation X (1965 to 1980), Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) and the Silent Generation (1928 and 1945). The data covered loan applications in March, April and May. Generally, the younger applicants ...

The $1.89 billion non-agency mortgage-backed security issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank in April looked promising for boosters of the non-agency MBS market. However, analysts at one of the firms that rated the deal suggest that a number of factors could limit other banks from following Chase’s lead. “Some banks are likely hesitant to securitize loan portfolios because securitizations could reduce return on equity at a time when banks are already struggling to meet ...

Bank and thrift holdings of non-agency mortgage-backed securities continue to decline on aggregate, mirroring the gradual drop in the amount of outstanding non-agency MBS. Banks and thrifts held $78.66 billion of non-agency MBS as of the end of the first quarter of 2016, according to a new ranking from the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database. The holdings declined by 5.0 percent from the previous quarter and by ... [Includes one data chart]

Ginnie Mae has good reason to be concerned about rapid demographic change in its relatively small issuer community. Nonbank institutions – many of them relatively newly formed and based on nontraditional business models – are taking over the market. Nonbank issuers accounted for a whopping 69.4 percent of Ginnie’s issuance of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the first quarter of 2016. A year ago, their share was 64.6 percent. Two years ago it was 46.7 percent. With those kinds of gains on the production line, it’s not hard to see why nonbanks are claiming a growing share of Ginnie servicing outstanding. At the end of March, nonbanks owned 46.7 percent of Ginnie single-family mortgage servicing rights, up a hefty 11.5 percentage points in one year. That rate of growth can’t be accomplished just by producing new MBS because the servicing market simply doesn’t grow that fast. (Although the Ginnie market has grown significantly faster than any other segment of ... [ 2 charts ]

Investors in FHA’s distressed note sales program would be required to do more for homeowners to help them avoid foreclosure and keep their homes, thanks to improvements to FHA’s Distressed Asset Stabilization Program (DASP) announced this week by the agency. The changes appear aimed at consumer groups’ criticism of the Department of Housing and Urban Development for allowing profit-oriented investors to purchase the troubled HUD assets at a discount and flip the homes for a profit without ever helping the distressed homeowner. Although the transactions make good economic sense for investors and the government, struggling homeowners end up losing their homes without having tried any loan modification option that could have helped them avoid foreclosure. HUD launched the DASP in 2010 under pressure from Congress to help stabilize the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, which ...

VA home loan guarantees reported modest growth in the first quarter of 2016 thanks to the program’s no-downpayment feature and higher-quality borrowers, according to Inside FHA/VA Lending’s analysis of agency data. The fourth quarter of 2015 was the worst quarter in an otherwise good year for VA lending, as lenders racked up $35.2 billion in total originations, down 21.0 percent from the third quarter, which was VA’s most productive for the year. However, the first three months of 2016 are off to a promising start with overall VA volume totaling $37.1 billion, a 5.5 percent improvement from the prior quarter. VA purchase volume was down 8.1 percent in the first quarter to $18.2 billion from the previous quarter, while VA IRRRL (interest rate reduction refinance loans) production rose 43.4 percent to $10.9 billion over the same period, data further showed. VA’s no-downpayment option in conjunction with the ... [ 1 chart ]