The U.S. mortgage market produced an estimated $580.0 billion of first-lien originations during the third quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. That was up 13.7 percent from the second quarter, and it marked the strongest origination cycle since the fourth quarter of 2012, when $584.0 billion of new loans flowed through the pipes. The robust third quarter brought year-to-date originations to $1.470 trillion, up 8.9 percent from the first nine months of 2015. Lender feedback and agency mortgage-backed securities data suggest...[Includes two data tables]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac featured new technologies aimed at streamlining the loan production process and further limiting lender repurchase risk during this week’s annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Boston. Top officials of the two government-sponsored enterprises said that 2017 will bring further efforts to expand affordable housing opportunities, a theme underscored by their chief regulator. Melvin Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said...

Late this week or early next, Ginnie Mae is expected to release a new and improved acknowledgement agreement, a move intended to allow nonbanks to borrow more easily against the asset value of their mortgage servicing rights. But the big question remains: Will the agency’s tweaks have much of an impact on liquidity? There is...

Recapitalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a good idea, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which said that it wouldn’t significantly change how the government-sponsored enterprises operate today, but it would help stabilize the mortgage market and the federal budget. In response to several legislative proposals calling for the GSEs to build capital, the CBO recently published a report studying the effects of an “illustrative policy option.” Fannie and Freddie capital will...

The higher purchase-money estimate – released at the MBA annual in Boston – is predicated on stronger household formations coupled with employment growth and rising wages.

Ocwen, which in the past has been sanctioned by regulators for some of it servicing practices, also disclosed $10.0 million of additional reserves for a potential California regulatory settlement and $7.0 million of incremental reserves for a previously disclosed letter dating issue.

At Flagstar, refinances accounted for 57.6 percent of originations compared to 54.2 percent in the second quarter.

But there is one caveat: The VA sector is one business from which banks are not yet running away from…

“Agency MBS prepayment speeds slowed in September, but they still hover near the multi-year highs reached last month,” according to a report from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Back in May, the reading for first-time homebuyers was 40.4 percent.