The employment market for retail loan officers – as well as loan brokers – continues to look promising, provided that interest rates remain low this spring and nothing comes along to spook new homebuyers. Moreover, new employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics seem to bear this out. In January – the latest figures available on residential finance hiring – mortgage brokerage firms nationwide added 2,100 full-time staffers, bringing total employment in the niche to 81,600, the highest reading in several years.

Evolution and innovation are usually double-edged swords – and that’s certainly proving to be true when it comes to technology and financial services. New research from DBRS finds that banks are increasingly using technology to differentiate themselves and to enhance the customer experience. But this market upgrade comes with a cost: smaller players with less financial wherewithal are being left further behind. The first main point DBRS analysts made ...

The mortgage lending industry appears to be having a strong first quarter of the year so far, profitability wise, with gain-on-sale margins up strongly – at least until more effects kick in from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s TRID integrated disclosure rule, according to a new analysis. “Our gain-on-sale index indicates margins rebounded sharply in first quarter 2016, up 22 percent quarter-over-quarter on average,” said analysts at Compass Point Research & Trading ...

As risks from cyber attacks on financial institutions remain a top concern, the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of the Inspector General determined that the oversight of the Federal Home Loan Banks’ cybersecurity program is not effective.In an audit released late last month, the IG found in 14 out of the 15 Federal Home Loan Bank IT examinations performed in 2013 and 2014 that included vulnerability scanning and/or penetration testing, the division of bank regulation did not asses the design of the tests performed by contractors at the banks’ discretion.Vulnerability scanning includes a thorough examination of computers, computer systems, networks, and applications to identify security weaknesses.

Appraisals aren’t causing significant closing problems for purchase-mortgage lending, although there are issues as home prices increase, according to responses to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. “Appraisals are mostly in line with contract prices,” said Tom Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys. “However, appraisals for FHA mortgages and VA mortgages more often miss the contract price than appraisals for conventional mortgages.” Appraised home prices have tended...

Bank and thrift first-lien portfolio holdings continued to grow in 2015, including a sharp increase in the fourth quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Banks and thrifts held a total of $1.87 trillion in first-liens in portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, up 0.9 percent from the end of the previous quarter and up 3.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014. The increase in holdings was largely driven by ... [Includes one data chart]

Competition from banks for conforming mortgages prompted Redwood Trust to discontinue its aggregation of mortgages for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises, according to officials at the real estate investment trust. “The business assumption that has changed is that we no longer believe that our conduit can generate sufficient conforming loan sale margins, primarily due to the unrelenting competitive pricing pressure from some major banks,” Redwood said in a document ...

Ocwen Financial recently reported a large loss in the fourth quarter of 2015 along with investigations by a number of regulators, leading to a sharp decline in the company’s stock price and pressure to restructure its priorities. Ocwen took a pre-tax loss of $129.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2015. The biggest contributor to the loss was a non-cash charge of $101.9 million to establish a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets in the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands ...

With only a few isolated exceptions, VA and FHA lending was up sharply across the country last year, outstripping the private mortgage insurance business in nearly every state of the U.S., according to a new analysis by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Overall, FHA single-family mortgages securitized by Ginnie Mae increased 60.5 percent from 2014 and VA production was up 39.4 percent. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted a more subdued 26.2 percent increase in privately-insured loan volume. California remained the biggest mortgage market for the FHA, VA and private MIs, as well as uninsured mortgages. The FHA clearly won the mortgage insurance battle, boosting its share of insured loans in the Golden State from 41.1 percent in 2014 to 49.2 percent last year thanks to a whopping 89.8 percent jump in business. California had one of the highest concentrations of ... [ 3 charts ]

Ginnie Mae securitization of rural home loans declined in 2015 as securitization volume in the segment fell in the fourth quarter, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae data. A total of $18.1 billion in USDA loans were securitized in 2015, with the top five issuers accounting for $10.2 billion delivered into Ginnie (based on numbers below) MBS pools. Some $4.5 billion of MBS backed by rural home loans with the U.S. Department of Agriculture guarantee were issued in the fourth quarter, down 12.5 percent from the previous quarter. USDA MBS issuance also dropped 9.0 percent in 2015 from 2014 volume levels, with all of the top five issuers losing ground year-over-year as well as in the fourth quarter. Chase Home Finance remained the top issuer of securitized rural home loans, accounting for $5.6 billion in Ginnie MBS issuances last year. Second-place Wells Fargo, ... [ 1 chart ]