The mortgage market’s shift from a focus on refinances to purchase mortgages won’t be enough to prompt an increase in purchase-mortgage originations in 2014, according to industry economists. The Mortgage Bankers Association revised its origination projections last week, predicting that purchase-mortgage originations will decline by 4.0 percent in 2014 compared with the previous year. An estimated $680 billion in purchase mortgages ... [Includes one data chart]

Mortgage credit tightened slightly in April, according to the latest Mortgage Credit Availability Index from the Mortgage Bankers Association, a measure which analyzes underwriting trends in data from the AllRegs Market Clarity product. The index slipped from 114.0 in March to 113.8 in April, after increasing for each of the first three months of the year. A decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while increases in the index are indicative of a loosening ...

Banks that extend warehouse lines of credit to nonbank originators saw their commitment levels fall 39 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, yet another sign that the origination market was extremely weak during the first three months of 2014. On a sequential basis, commitments dropped a more benign 10.8 percent, but it’s not unusual for some firms to keep a line open, even if they’re not utilizing their power to borrow. According to Inside Mortgage Finance estimates, banks and nonbanks had $27.0 billion in warehouse commitments on their books as of March 31, compared to $31.0 billion on December 31, and $45.0 billion a year ago. One active warehouse bank had...[Includes one data chart]

Servicing problems are being addressed “quickly and effectively” by the servicers subject to the $25 billion national servicing settlement, save for Walter Investment Management’s Green Tree Servicing, according to Joseph Smith, the settlement’s monitor. In a report released last week, Smith said Green Tree failed eight metrics tested in the second half of 2013, while Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, Ocwen and Wells Fargo passed all of their settlement tests ...

Total FHA originations dropped significantly in the first quarter of 2014 as borrower access to credit remained a big problem for the agency, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of agency data. FHA lenders ended the first quarter with a combined $28.3 billion in new originations, down 21.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013. Production also fell a whopping 55.6 percent from the same period a year ago. Purchase transactions comprised the bulk of new FHA loans but, so far, the much-anticipated boom in new purchase lending has yet to materialize. The high cost of FHA loans, due mainly to higher mortgage insurance premiums and a requirement to maintain mortgage insurance for the life of the loan, has made it difficult for borrowers to obtain an FHA-insured loan. Lender overlays also have restricted access to FHA credit. The FHA has raised premiums five times since 2009 to ... [1 chart]

The Department of Veterans Affairs said there may be a need for further clarification of its newly issued qualified mortgage (QM) rule to allay lender fear of potential liability if they originate VA streamlined refinances, also known as Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans (IRRRL), with a rebuttable presumption. Industry sources say VA lenders remain apprehensive despite assurances by agency officials that little has changed in the VA lending process as a result of the agency’s interim final rule. VA issued its QM document on May 9 in compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act, defining the types of VA loans that are “qualified mortgages” for purposes of the new ability-to-repay (ATR) provisions of the Truth in Lending Act. The Act also imposed similar requirements upon the FHA and the Department of Agriculture for the loans they insure or guarantee. The agency said it issued the rule on ...

The slowdown in VA activity in the last quarter of 2013 spilled over into the first quarter of this year as lenders reported a 13.0 percent decline in loan production during the period, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of agency data. The downward trend in volume began at the end of the first quarter last year although VA still considered 2013 a record year for VA originations. VA lenders reported $19.5 billion in total production for the quarter, down from $22.4 billion in the previous quarter. Production, likewise, dropped 47.9 percent this year compared to the same period last year. Despite the slowdown, lenders remain optimistic about the VA market. “We have spent a lot of time understanding the perils of lending to veterans and learning to deal with the losses, and we are all in with VA lending,” said one lender. “When you do VA loans you talk about having ... [1 chart]

The Department of Veterans Affairs is studying the impact of fees and may propose alternative regulations to amend the current structure, according to agency officials. In a briefing with the National Association of Realtors, VA staff attorney Erica Lewis said the agency has begun looking at the fees VA charges in response to complaints from some lenders. During the briefing, some NAR members expressed concerns that some of the VA loan requirements, such as pest inspections, disadvantage veterans because they may dissuade sellers from accepting offers that could potentially create additional fees, which cannot be paid by the homebuyer. Lewis also suggested that real estate agents request a waiver from the VA field office nearest to the location of the property being purchased to ...

Ginnie Mae has issued a clarification as to when issuers can buy certain loans out of the pool and redefined certain familiar terms used by government agencies in insuring or guaranteeing mortgage loans. The agency’s mortgage-backed securities guide allows issuers to purchase loans out of pools when the borrower has missed three consecutive monthly mortgage payments or is 90 days past due. However, the guide is unclear whether the issuer must wait at least three months before buying a loan out of the pool if the borrower is making at least a partial payment while the loan is in default. Ginnie Mae made clear in a May 16 memo that issuers may purchase a loan from an MBS pool even though it is seriously delinquent. For example, if the last installment payment on a mortgage loan was Dec. 1 and the borrower missed payments in ...

The FHA has proposed to bring its adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) rules in line with those of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to enable FHA lenders to comply with the new servicing requirements under the Truth in Lending Act. Specifically, two proposed changes would align both agencies’ interest-rate adjustment and disclosure-notification regulations for ARM borrowers as required by the revised TILA. The CFPB issued its final TILA servicing rule in February 2013 but delayed the effective date for another year to allow the Department of Housing and Urban Development sufficient time to write rules for new notification requirements for FHA-insured ARMs with a 30-day look-back period. Hence, FHA ARMs must comply with the new TILA rule on or after Jan. 10, 2015. The FHA insures 1-, 3-, 5-, 7- or 10-year ARMs. The CFPB’s revised look-back period and notification requirements would ...