The California Association of Realtors renewed its push for rules addressing the proliferation of FHA-insured mortgages that have Property Assessed Clean Energy super liens. In a recent letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan, the CAR requested that both FHA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development adopt policy that is consistent with the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s existing policy on PACE liens. Specifically, such a policy would prohibit the use of PACE encumbrances with a “super lien” priority over mortgage financing. The group also urged HUD to issue guidelines directing FHA lenders and servicers not to place PACE liens above any mortgage insured by FHA. The CAR expressed concern about how PACE liens might affect the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, which is currently recovering from years of losses. “If the ..

FHA Revises TOTAL Mortgage Scorecard. Effective on June 11, 2016, the FHA’s TOTAL Mortgage Scorecard no longer returns either upfront or annual mortgage insurance premium factors to an automated underwriting system. The FHA directs lenders to consult Appendix I of its Single Family Housing Policy handbook for applicable MIP factors. AUS vendors have been notified of the change and have adjusted their systems accordingly. HUD, First Citizens Bank Settle Fair Lending Complaint. A South Carolina bank has agreed to correct its lending practices and allocate funding to resolve allegations that it denied more loans to minorities compared to similarly-situated white loan applicants. 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 ...

The weighted average loan loss severity for U.S. commercial MBS was 49.3 percent for the 139 loans liquidated in the first three months of 2016, versus 58.2 percent for 240 loans liquidated in the last three months of 2015, which was the highest quarterly loss severity since 2010, Moody’s Investors Service said in a new quarterly report. However, “In both quarters, severities topped the weighted average of 42.8 percent for loans liquidated between Jan. 1, 2000, and March 31, 2016,” the ratings service added. The Moody’s report tracks...

The banking industry still hasn’t touched bottom in its years-long retreat from the mortgage servicing rights business. Banks and thrifts reported a total of $4.001 trillion of single-family mortgage servicing for other investors, most commonly mortgage-backed securities trusts, as of the end of March. That was down some $52.9 billion from the previous quarter, a 1.3 percent decline, according to a new analysis of call-report data by Inside Mortgage Trends ... [Includes one data chart]

Upheaval in hedging mortgage servicing rights during the first quarter of this year damped what was otherwise a strong performance by the loan production side, according to data reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Participants in the MBA’s quarterly performance study reported average pretax income of $752,000 for the first three months of the year. That was down 36.8 percent from the fourth quarter, and represented the lowest reading since ...

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 ...

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]

Bank and thrift holdings of first-lien mortgages as of the end of the first quarter of 2016 declined compared with the end of 2015, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of bank and thrift call reports. Banks and thrifts held $1.85 trillion in first-lien residential mortgages at the end of March, down 1.0 percent from the end of December. But industry holdings were up 1.6 percent from March 2015, suggesting that banks still have plenty of ... [Includes one data chart]

Hopes for a resurgence of issuance of non-agency mortgage-backed securities backed by new mortgages appear to be tied more to banks than to steps Congress might take to reduce the government-sponsored enterprises’ footprint, according to industry analysts. Since the financial crisis, banks have largely opted to hold non-agency originations in portfolio instead of issuing MBS. According to an analysis by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, capital requirements have given banks ...