MBS backed by multifamily mortgage loans would be exempt from a proposed rule that would establish margining requirements for multifamily agency finance. Had it been implemented as originally proposed, the rule would have amended the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Rule 4210 to establish margin requirements in the single-family “to-be-announced” (TBA) market. At the same time, it would have also scoped in the multifamily housing programs of Fannie Mae and FHA/Ginnie Mae, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. FINRA filed...

There is also a school of thought that going forward, loan officers won’t be needed as much because of new origination technologies...

An estimated $254.15 billion of agency mortgage servicing rights were transferred in bulk sales transactions last year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of loan-level mortgage-backed securities disclosures. The peak of the market came during the second quarter of 2015, when a whopping $102.27 billion of MSR were transferred to new servicers. Some $61.80 billion of that was in the Ginnie Mae program, with Bank of America ... [Includes one data chart]

Correspondent originators and mortgage brokers continued to churn out relatively more purchase mortgages than retail lenders during the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of agency loan-level data. Some 34.6 percent of single-family loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae during the final three months of last year were originated by correspondent lenders. And 69.1 percent of those loans ... [Includes one data chart]

Also, the agency servicing market has continued to become less top-heavy.

Although the issues cited by lenders are not FHA issues per se, some firms are concerned that TRID-related uncertainties may cause problems for their FHA business...

A huge factor in the record-setting year was the 115.5 percent surge in refinance loans securitized in Ginnie MBS.

Issuers of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities pushed a record $435.80 billion of government-insured loans through the program during 2015, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis and ranking. Last year’s total Ginnie MBS issuance topped the previous record of $429.50 billion issued during 2009. The $435.80 billion total for 2015 includes securitization of FHA home-equity conversion mortgages and other single-family loans guaranteed by FHA, the VA, and the Department of Agriculture rural housing program from Ginnie pool-level MBS data that are not truncated. Production in 2015 hit its high-water mark in the third quarter with $128.23 billion in issuance, and then fell 18.0 percent in the final three months of the year. Purchase mortgages continued to account for most Ginnie business in 2015, 58.0 percent of the agency’s forward-mortgage securitizations. But a huge factor in the ... [ Charts ]

FHA lenders are uneasy over whether issues raised by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new integrated disclosure rules could affect FHA lending. Although the issues cited by lenders are not FHA issues per se, these lenders are concerned that such uncertainties may cause problems for their FHA business, according to mortgage industry consultant Brian Chappelle, a principal at Potomac Partners. For example if a lender cures a mistake and the cure results in a reimbursement of, say, $100 to the borrower at closing, would that be considered a violation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s minimum 3.5 percent cash-investment requirement for FHA loans. “I don’t think it is a violation, but lenders are worried about how HUD might interpret it,” said Chappelle. “It is well after closing and it is obviously not a gift given to the borrower. It is ...

Quicken Loan attempt to have a governmen false-claim lawsuit against the lender moved from Washington, DC, to a federal court in Detroit will not necessarily secure a win, according to a mortgage industry attorney. “I think it was more the device Quicken needed in order to become the plaintiff instead of the defendant,” said one attorney who preferred to remain anonymous because his firm handles other legal matters for Quicken Loans. He said it does not matter whether the case is tried in Washington or Detroit but what matters is its actual substance. At the same time, there is no reason why those defenses could not be raised in a DC court, the attorney added. Last month, a federal judge in Detroit dismissed Quicken’s preemptive lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Justice Department for failure to state a claim. Ultimately, the court ...