All seven active mortgage insurance companies reported a total of $31.34 billion of new primary insurance written during the first quarter, according to calculations from Inside Mortgage Finance.

In trading, Walter was down almost 5 percent on the day. The stock fell to just under $28. Its 52-week low is $24, its high $45.12.

Under new management, the agency in charge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is tacking their conservatorship in a different direction: focusing on preserving the two government-sponsored enterprises rather than driving them into shallow water. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt this week emphasized a focus on “the present” as he explained how he seeks to “reformulate” the agency’s past conservatorship goals to suit the housing finance market in the here and now. “I am...

The new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac policy on loan-seller representations and warranties will likely burn off some of the fog that’s made mortgage lenders skittish about the product they deliver to the two government-sponsored enterprises, but it won’t eliminate industry buyback concerns. The new policy tinkers at the edges of the buyback safe harbor for loans with acceptable payment history. Loans with two 30-day late payments in the first three years can get a buyback waiver if they are current at the 36-month mark; until now such loans would only get a waiver if they performed for five years. More significant is...

When the Federal Housing Finance Agency unveiled its long-awaited strategic plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week, it provided scant guidance on pending eligibility standards for mortgage insurance firms that rely on the government-sponsored enterprises. But the good news for the MI sector is that there was a mention of the topic and a vague promise that eligibility standards – including capital-to-risk rules – will see the light of day this year. Although the agency did not offer a specific timetable, MI executives told Inside Mortgage Finance that they expect to see the standards early in the second half. “FHFA hasn’t dropped...

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray has repeatedly told mortgage lenders that there are plenty of good loans to be made outside the confines of the qualified mortgage. Increasingly, it looks like market dynamics are backing him up. During a webinar last week hosted by Inside Mortgage Finance, Larry Platt, a partner with the K&L Gates law firm, noted that some lenders are looking outside the QM box to bolster loan origination volume that has plummeted. “The volume is down, and we’ve moved into a purchase-money market,” he observed. Also, there’s...

Brett Nicholas, president of Redwood Trust, said the real estate investment trust plans to issue its next jumbo MBS around June.

Banks were largely unwilling to sell off HEL holdings in 2013, according to MountainView Capital Group, an advisor on whole loan sales.

Overall, refi loans accounted for 45.7 percent of agency MBS production in the first four months of 2014, compared to 77.2 percent during the same period last year.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae issued a combined $67.1 billion of single-family MBS during April, a solid 23.6 percent increase from the previous month, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. Agency MBS issuance has been in a prolonged downward spiral that started after a modest spurt in production in April 2013, when new issuance hit $153.6 billion, well more than double the volume in April of this year. The upside is that the volume of purchase mortgages coming into the agency market continued to build momentum through the peak home-buying season in 2013. The purchase-mortgage sector has become...[Includes two data charts]