Commercial banks and savings institutions reported another decline in mortgage repurchase and indemnification activity in the first quarter of 2014, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call reports. The industry reported just $1.14 billion in aggregate repurchases and indemnifications related to single-family mortgage banking operations during the first three months of the year. That was down 21.4 percent from the previous period and ... [Includes one data chart]

The wholesale channel isn’t something to shun, according to officials at Stonegate Mortgage. The nonbank is tapping all three origination channels in an effort to increase its holdings of mortgage servicing rights while controlling origination costs. Stonegate had $2.42 billion in originations in the first quarter of 2014, up 27.4 percent from a year ago, making the publicly traded mortgage banker one of the relatively few lenders to increase its production in that span ...

The environment is ripe for bank mortgage lenders to see improvements in the coming months, according to industry analysts. However, even as interest rates remain at low levels, there has yet to be a significant increase in originations of purchase mortgages. “The mortgage market has slowed, but things aren’t all bad for banks,” Standard & Poor’s said last week in an analysis of banks’ mortgage revenue. The rating service noted that mortgage banking results ...

The bloodbath in mortgage-production losses during the first quarter of 2014 did not occur uniformly across the industry and appears to be related to the failure of many companies to downsize quickly enough, new Mortgage Bankers Association data suggest. Average pretax income as a percentage of equity was -3.15 percent during the first quarter, the MBA said in its Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance report. That was the first negative profit margin since ...

Commercial banks and savings institutions continued to pare down their portfolios of mortgages serviced for other investors during the first quarter, according to a call-report analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends. Banks and thrifts serviced a total of $4.56 trillion of home loans for other investors, most of which was associated with mortgage-backed securities. That was down 3.2 percent from the fourth quarter and marked the eighth consecutive ... [Includes one data chart]

For the past year or so, the Millennial generation has been everyone’s favorite punching bag for why the housing market isn’t stronger. Depending on which study you read, this demographic group of 80 million strong just can’t manage to save enough money for a downpayment on a mortgage. Instead, they’ve been living in their parents’ basements or – gasp – renting in “group” homes. This in turn has stifled the housing recovery, or so the experts claim ...

Endorsement of FHA-insured reverse mortgages rose in the first quarter of 2014, although lenders say it may just be trailing figures reflecting the lag time between closing and approval for FHA insurance. Home Equity Conversion Mortgage guarantees totaled $4.0 billion in the first quarter, up 16.4 percent from the end of the fourth quarter in 2013 and up 4.1 percent from the same period last year, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of agency data. Home purchase accounted for 92.7 percent of HECM volume but only 14.5 percent were fixed-rate. Initial principal amount at loan origination totaled $2.4 billion. The 16.4 percent increase was more likely due to the fact that a huge number of reverse mortgages closed in November and December were not insured by FHA until January, said Josh Moran, vice president of wholesale lending at Live Well Financial. Some lenders who delayed reporting to ... [1 chart]

FHA lenders are generally supportive of the agency’s proposal to add a new method for evaluating lender performance but may request certain adjustments to ensure they are not at great risk for enforcement action, according to compliance experts. Lenders believe the proposal for an additional performance metric to supplement the lender compare ratio under the Credit Watch Termination Initiative is a positive step toward providing a more well-rounded analysis of a lender’s performance when the FHA is considering further action. “In and of itself, the proposal is not a panacea, but it is certainly a step in the right direction,” said Brian Chappelle, a mortgage industry consultant. The proposal reflects the FHA’s belief that a number of factors influence a lender’s performance, not just its compare ratio. The compare ratio compares a lender’s rate of early defaults and claims to those for ...

Ginnie Mae has prohibited the pooling of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans that provide for future draws at a fixed rate of interest starting June 1, 2014. The agency said servicers that are committed to advance funds to borrowers at a fixed rate could become seriously undercapitalized if interest rates rise from the time of origination. “The impact of negative spreads between a fixed note rate and future prevailing rates could be exacerbated in such loans, and endanger the servicers’ capacity to meet their HMBS (HECM mortgage-backed securities) obligations, which require the issuer to maintain the capacity to advance funds as required under the HMBS program,” Ginnie explained in a recent memo to issuers. Program requirements include the funding of draw requests from borrowers and buying all related participations out of pools when the outstanding principal balance of the related HECM loan reaches 98 percent of the maximum claim amount, Ginnie noted. Borrower requests for ...