FHA condominium lending fell in the first quarter to $1.6 billion, down 8.6 percent from the prior quarter. The volume decline was the second in a row for the sector, when production fell 20.3 percent from the third to the fourth quarter last year. On the other hand, year-over-year volume saw a whopping 35.3 percent increase. The top 10 FHA condo lenders were dominated by nonbanks, with Quicken Loans leading the field. The only bank among the top 10 was Wells Fargo, which landed in third place with $45.3 million despite a 35.7 percent drop in condo loan originations in the first quarter. Leader Quicken Loans closed the quarter with $73.6 million, while second-ranked Freedom Mortgage Corp. clocked in with $55.6 million. Fourth-place LoanDepot originated $33.7 million in FHA condo loans, while Broker Solutions rounded out the top five category with $31.1 million. In November last year, FHA announced ... [ 1 chart ]

The FHA’s 203(k) Property Repair and Rehabilitation program could use some jolt as inflexible agency guidelines, construction inexperience and closing delays continue to constrain loan growth. Origination of FHA-insured fixer-upper loans fell 10.9 percent in the first quarter of 2016 to $762.7 million from $856.2 million in the previous quarter. It was a different story year-over-year, however, as volume during the first three months rose 20.8 percent compared to volume during the same period last year. The top five FHA 203(k) lenders struggled as their combined loan production dropped 9.4 percent quarter-over-quarter and by 3.0 percent on a year-to-year basis. Their combined originations accounted for $157.5 million of total FHA 203(k) loan production for the first quarter. Purchase loans accounted for $131.0 million of rehab loans originated during the period while refinance loans totaled a ... [ 1 chart ]

The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to conduct computer-based training for appraisal managers to improve the way they assess the VA Home Loan Guaranty program’s appraisal process. The VA said it hopes to garner more positive feedback from staff appraisal reviewers this year by having them train with LoanSafe Appraisal Manager (LSAM). LSAM, an appraisal risk-analysis tool from CoreLogic, automatically evaluates all the data and form fields in an appraisal, quickly returning an easy-to-use summary of key valuation, market-risk factors and compliance issues. In June last year, the VA announced an automated Appraisal Management Service (AMS) that includes the LSAM product for use in enhancing the appraisal review process prior to issuance of the Notice of Value. The AMS system provides lender and servicer appraisal processing programs and staff appraisal reviewers (SARs), which will ...

CRT Capital Group has begun winding down its mortgage research division, Sterne Agee CRT, casting a shadow over publicly traded residential stocks and dashing the hopes of any nonbanks that were hoping to pull off an initial public offering this year. As one equities researcher told Inside Mortgage Finance this week: “It’s not fun being a stock analyst these days.” And commenting on the recent – and unexpected – drop in rates, he added: “Some of these firms may get smoked.” Four years ago, Sterne Agee was...

Ginnie Mae is once again getting anxious about the growing – and large – presence of nonbanks that service the agency’s MBS, fearing a liquidity crisis could erupt because some firms rely too heavily on “non-traditional and very sophisticated funding mechanisms.” In a statement issued to Inside MBS & ABS this week, Ginnie contrasted nonbanks to depositories “who traditionally were the primary issuers of Ginnie Mae MBS.” The agency added...[Includes one data table]

Commercial banks and savings institutions reported a small increase in the volume of repurchases and indemnifications regarding single-family mortgages during the first quarter of 2016, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. Banks reported $764.1 million of repurchases during the first quarter, a 3.9 percent increase from the previous period. That was down 23.3 percent from the first quarter of 2015, however, and sets a pace ... [Includes one data chart]

A majority of mortgage companies plan to increase their spending on technology as part of their efforts to boost profit margins, according to the latest results from Fannie Mae’s quarterly survey of lenders. Some 56 percent of the 169 lenders surveyed by Fannie in the second quarter of 2016 listed technology investment as one of their top two strategies to increase profit margins, marking the first time a majority of respondents plan to increase tech spending to help profits since ...

Intercontinental Exchange will acquire a majority equity position in the owner of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems and “modernize” MERS, according to the companies. Terms of the investment weren’t disclosed, though ICE said the price and terms of the transaction are “immaterial” to the company. The transaction is expected to be completed at the end of this month. MERS is owned by MERSCorp Holdings, a private corporation and member-based organization ...

The chance of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac reform legislation passing Congress this year is virtually nil. But that hasn’t stopped industry trade groups from talking about the topic, or dispensing a barrage of advice for the Federal Housing Finance Agency about the withering capital cushions at Fannie and Freddie. The way things stand today, the largest industry trade organizations – and arguably the most powerful politically – are taking the position of “all or nothing” mortgage-finance ...

In a finding with ominous implications for the mortgage lending industry, a significant majority, 81 percent, of respondents in a recent opinion survey continues to believe that housing affordability is a problem in the U.S. The concern for lenders is that the more Americans believe the cost of buying a home is out of their reach, the greater the odds are they won’t even bother to shop for a house or a mortgage or save for a downpayment. “Stable, affordable housing is viewed as ...