The banking industry retreated a little further from the business of servicing mortgages for other investors during the first quarter of 2017, although a change in reporting requirements made the change look a little bigger than it really was. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of bank call reports shows that commercial banks and savings institutions serviced a total of $3.640 trillion of home mortgages for other investors, typically mortgage-backed securities trusts. These are mortgage servicing rights that the bank owns; in some cases a third party may perform the actual servicing and in others the bank may provide subservicing on MSR it doesn’t own. The March servicing-for-others figure was...[Includes one data table]

Profit margins and net income fell sharply in the mortgage banking business during early 2017, according to new data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. On average, firms participating in the MBA’s quarterly performance report earned just $886,000 in pretax income during the first quarter, a hefty 74.8 percent drop from the previous period. Only about two firms in three (67.0 percent) managed to report net pretax income for the first three months of the year. The industry funded...

The spring and summer home-buying season is in full throttle and with rates falling to yearly lows, mortgage bankers should be hiring in droves. Right? Not necessarily. Top-ranked lenders such as Quicken Loans and Movement Mortgage report they continue to search for new talent, but others are being careful about their hiring plans. Employment in the mortgage brokerage sector has been...

The agency servicing market grew steadily in the first quarter of 2017, as the business continued to slide toward nonbanks, a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals. The Federal Reserve late last week reported that total residential mortgage debt outstanding rose 0.7 percent during the first quarter, hitting $10.330 trillion. It marked the eighth consecutive quarterly increase since the sector hit its post-crash low in March 2015 at $9.912 trillion. Most of the growth came from the agency market, although portfolio holdings – including nonbanks – were...[Includes two data tables]

The Department of the Treasury this week issued a report calling for stripping the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of its supervisory powers over federally insured banks and state-supervised nonbanks, clarifying and modifying the TILA-RESPA integrated disclosure rule, and freezing additional rulemaking in mortgage servicing. The report recommends actions and changes that can be immediately undertaken to reduce regulatory overlap, fragmentation and duplication. While some of the changes could be implemented administratively, many would require congressional action. Treasury called...

The market for mortgage mergers and acquisitions is beginning to heat up with talk about who’s in – and who might be out. According to investment banking officials speaking under the condition they not be identified, Caliber Home Loans and Flagstar Bancorp continue to make their intentions known as buyers. “Caliber is looking to make a big splash,” noted one advisor who said he’s been contacted by the privately held lender. “And they have money behind them too.” That “money” would be...

The vacancy rate on homes that collateralize single-family rental securitizations rose ever so slightly to 4.3 percent in May, but high renewal rates on tenant leases were strong, according to figures compiled by Morningstar Research. The firm noted that the average retention rate rose for the fourth straight month and now stands at 79.8 percent “for the most recent data available.” Two SFR securitizations, including one from market leader Invitation Homes, paid off...

Reverse-mortgage originations with FHA insurance rose in the first quarter of 2017 from the prior quarter and from the same period last year despite a long-term slowdown in Home Equity Conversion Mortgage activity, an analysis of agency data found. HECM lenders, including an increasing number of nonbanks, produced $4.5 billion in new HECM loans during the first three months of 2017, up 16.9 percent from the prior quarter. Production also was up 16.6 percent year-over year. Purchase reverse mortgages comprised 83.6 percent of HECMs produced during the period. Borrowers appeared to favor reverse mortgages with adjustable rates over fixed-rate HECMs, which accounted for only 10.7 percent of HECMs in the first quarter. Despite increased originations in the first quarter, FHA data show a gradual decline in HECM endorsements since peaking in FY 2009 with ... [Charts]

Over the past six months, chief executive officers at three top 20-ranked mortgage firms have been replaced for varying reasons. Are more changes in store in what could turn out to be a down year for residential lending? That’s hard to say, but speculation is growing that the executive turnstiles might be spinning a little faster between now and yearend. The three companies that unveiled CEO changes are PennyMac Financial Services (Stanford Kurland departing ...

Mortgage banking remained profitable for the vast majority of banks and thrifts that are in the business, but earnings declined sharply in early 2017 and more institutions quit the market, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call reports. The industry reported a combined $3.562 billion in mortgage-banking income for the first quarter of this year, down 35.0 percent from the previous three-month period. The upside was that first-quarter profits ... [Includes one data chart]