Appraisal independence requirements adopted by the government-sponsored enterprises helped reduce the probability of inflated appraisals and made it more difficult to obtain mortgages, according to new research by staff at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Lei Ding, a community development economic advisor at the Philadelphia Fed, and Leonard Nakamura, a vice president and economist, detailed their findings in a paper published at the end of July. The government-sponsored enterprises adopted...

The sharp increase in purchase-mortgage lending during 2Q helped float the private MI boat higher.

Overall, delinquencies remained below levels seen a year ago...

The private mortgage insurance industry had its best quarter since the housing market crash during the second quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Private MIs provided insurance on $60.51 billion of new single-family mortgages during the second quarter, a strong 33.7 percent increase over the first three months of the year. It was the biggest three-month output for the industry since the first quarter of 2008. The sharp increase in purchase-mortgage lending during the second quarter helped float...[Includes three data tables]

In the second quarter of 2015, 66.4 percent of loans sold to the GSEs had credit scores of 740 or higher.

If rates continue to head south it could result in large hedging losses and markdowns on mortgage servicing rights.

First Tennessee has 172 warehouse customers, compared to 160 a year ago.

Meanwhile, $69.1 billion in FHA purchase and refi loans were securitized in 2Q, a whopping 93.9 percent sequential gain.

A number of lenders, including Wells Fargo, offer jumbos that allow for downpayments of about 10 percent.

Consumer complaints about their student loan debt obligations rose slightly at the six-month mark, up 4.8 percent versus the previous year, according to a new analysis by Inside the CFPB. Month over month, gripes were down 4.0 percent. There was a good bit of variation in the numbers, company to company, during both time periods. But there was also a good bit of consistency within individual companies, with six of the top 10 rising or falling according to both metrics. For instance, top-ranked Navient saw consumer criticisms fall 6.8 percent quarter over quarter and 14.8 percent at the mid-year point compared with last year. Meanwhile, at second-ranked Genesis Lending, consumer complaints spiked 29.9 percent QOQ and skyrocketed more than 1,000 ...