The retail share of new residential originations declined slightly, to 60 percent, in the fourth quarter after climbing steadily during the first nine months of the year.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported significant profits during the fourth quarter of 2013, capping a year in which rising guaranty fees had little impact on the market share of the two government-sponsored enterprises. Fannie reported net income for 2013 of $84.0 billion, compared to $17.2 billion in 2012, but over half of last year's earnings (roughly $45 billion) came from recaptured deferred tax assets. The company reported fourth-quarter earnings of $6.5 billion, its eighth consecutive quarterly profit. After it makes its next dividend payment to the Treasury Department in March, Fannie will have paid...
For Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities issued in January 2013, the average reported credit score was 701 and the average DTI ratio was 38.0. By December, the average FHA credit score was down to 680, while the average DTI ratio was up to 40.3.
Of course, Ocwen is hardly alone when it comes to having a large overseas mortgage workforce. Wells Fargo and Nationstar, we’re told, also have decent sized back office operations in India…
Overall, the group reported a 5.8 percent increase in total mortgage banking income which for some firms includes activity not captured in either production or servicing during the fourth quarter.
Among those buying into MI stocks is Paulson & Co., the legendary hedge fund that made $15 billion by shorting publicly traded subprime firms via the ABX Index in the run-up to the housing bust.
Bank and thrift MBS holdings fell by 4.6 percent during 2013, and by the end of the year, they were down 7.8 percent from the all-time high of $1.634 trillion reached at the end of March 2012.