Streamlined mortgage refinancing with FHA and VA guarantees continued its strong growth in the first quarter of 2016, thanks mainly to low interest rates and program features, according to an analysis of agency quarterly and monthly reports. Agency-backed streamlined refinancing refers to the refinance of an existing FHA or VA loan requiring limited borrower credit documentation and underwriting and no appraisal. Streamlining applies only to the amount of documentation and underwriting the lender must perform and not to the costs in the transaction. VA IRRRL (interest rate reduction refinance loans) production rose...

Roughly 100 guests were invited to the Ginnie Mae "liquidity summit," including regulators from the Federal Reserve.

American Advisors Group remained as the alpha dog of the reverse lending pack, producing $525.7 billion in HECMs during the first quarter…

Chase, which has significantly increased its jumbo originations in recent years, more than doubled its IO originations in the first quarter.

Roughly $3.9 billion of mortgages with a USDA guarantee were securitized during the first three months of 2016, with the top five issuers accounting for almost 52 percent of that amount…

Ginnie Mae officials often tout the popularity of their MBS in Asian and other overseas markets…

FHA lenders will face stiffer maximum monetary penalties later this year for various violations of agency rules and regulations. The higher monetary penalties are the result of legislation signed into law late last year requiring federal agencies to adjust the current maximum penalty amounts for inflation in order to maintain their deterrent effect. Specifically, the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015 (2015 Act) requires federal agencies to adjust the level of civil monetary penalties with an initial “catch-up” adjustment through an interim final rule and subsequent annual adjustments for inflation. The interim final rules with the initial penalty adjustments must be published by July 1, 2016. The new penalty levels must take effect no later than Aug. 1, 2016. Additionally, agencies are required to make annual inflation adjustments, starting Jan. 15, 2017, and for each year going forward. The adjustments will ...

FHA single-family forward endorsements fell by 8.0 percent in the first quarter of 2016 from the prior quarter, suggesting a continued slowing in endorsement in the latter part of 2015 and early 2016 compared to earlier quarters, according to the FHA’s latest quarterly report to Congress on the state of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. Overall though, the FHA MMIF report as well as FHA monthly production reports for March and April continued to show the very positive trends – rising volume, lower delinquencies and outstanding credit quality – that have been occurring in the FHA program since 2009. Endorsement volume for purchase and refinance loans was down to $53.5 billion during the first three months of 2016 from $58.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015, the MMI Fund report showed. Last year, forward endorsements soared in the second quarter and reached a record high in the ...

FHA reverse mortgage lenders closed out the first quarter of 2016 with $3.9 billion in total originations, up 7.7 percent from the previous quarter, according to Inside FHA/VA Lending’s analysis of agency data. The Home Equity Conversion Mortgage volume for the first three months is nearly unchanged from the same period in 2015. At 84.6 percent, HECM purchase loans accounted for the bulk of originations. Improving HECM production helped put FHA’s capital level above the 2.0 percent statutory minimum. The capital ratio for FHA forward mortgages was only 1.6 percent at the end of FY 2015, but this was boosted by a 6.4 percent capital ratio in the HECM program. The FHA actuarial report, however, noted the capital instability in the HECM program and suggested taking HECM out of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. However, unless the MMI Fund’s capital drops to precarious levels ... [ 1 chart ]

An FHA price reduction remains a possibility but its impact is likely to be limited, according to analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. While some industry observers might think another mortgage insurance premium cut is inevitable, there is no broad pressure from any group or coalition that would compel FHA to do so, said KBW analysts Bose George and Chas Tyson, both panelists at KBW’s Mortgage Finance Conference recently. Given last year’s 50-basis-point cut, the FHA’s ability to cut rates meaningfully is somewhat limited, they said. The FHA annual MIP is currently 80 to/or 85 bps, down from the pre-reduction premium of 130 to/or 135 bps and higher compared to the average annual premium of 50 to/or 55 bps before the financial crisis. If FHA decides to reduce the premium again, George and Tyson believe the floor will likely be at the pre-crisis premium level, which would suggest a ...