Among the largest servicers, Ocwen Financial Corp. and RoundPoint Mortgage had the highest overall delinquency rates during the first quarter. However, both firms specialize in “high touch” product.

Melvin Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, revealed a new strategic plan for the government-sponsored enterprises last week that shifts away from the contraction goal set by previous FHFA Acting Director Ed DeMarco. “I don’t think it’s FHFA’s role to contract the footprint of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Watt said in remarks at the Brookings Institution. “Our role is to maintain an efficient credit market, and as private capital demonstrates that it will come into this market ...

Retail lending, which includes traditional loan-origination offices and consumer-direct operations, was down 60.0 percent from the first quarter of last year, slightly worse than the 58.0 percent downturn in the overall market.

Since that story appeared, we’ve talked to a few mortgage company CEOs who have said – tongue in cheek – that just about every mortgage firm is for sale.

The latest wrinkles in repurchase policies at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are widely seen as incremental changes that at least point in the right direction. The two government-sponsored enterprises last week announced a narrow adjustment in how loans with minor payment problems can still qualify for buyback relief if they are current 36 months after origination. The new framework also provides buyback protection for mortgages that come clean in the GSEs’ quality control checks and an alternative to automatic repurchase of loans when private mortgage insurance is canceled. Only about 2 percent of loans go...

Housing-finance reform legislation is stalled for the remainder of this year and perhaps throughout the next congress after last week’s majority vote by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee to approve the bill, say industry observers. The committee voted 13 to 9 to report out a revised version of S. 1217, the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act, just one vote more than the minimum to advance the bill for floor vote consideration. The committee approval likely marks...

House buyers are increasingly using mortgage financing when purchasing homes, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The shift has been prompted in part by a decline in the investor share of home purchases. Some 69.9 percent of homes purchased in April were completed with non-cash financing, up from a 69.7 percent share the previous month and 68.5 percent in April 2013, based on three-month moving averages. Tom Popik, research director of Campbell Surveys, said...

Although the Federal Housing Finance Agency has backed away from radically reducing the government sponsored enterprises’ role in the mortgage market, some non-agency lenders believe more of the conventional market might be up for grabs if the FHFA overhauls GSE guaranty fees and loan-level pricing adjustments. There isn’t likely to be much market opened up based on loan amount; FHFA Director Mel Watt has ruled out any change in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits. But the FHFA is actively engaging the industry and will be seeking formal comment on guaranty fees and LLPAs. Under current LLPAs, if a borrower has a low FICO score, low downpayment or other “risk factors,” they pay...

Seven lenders reported net losses during the first three months of 2014, but 12 of the firms showed stronger results than they had in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Taken as a barometer of industry activity, Wells Fargo's prediction is hardly good news for a business that is facing an ugly 40 percent decline in fundings this year.