"There are plenty of small deals out there," said one mortgage analyst, "but no big ones."

A new analysis shows that housing markets where FHA loan limits were reduced this year have seen a bigger drop in FHA business than elsewhere in the country.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun: “The way they have raised premiums and fees – the way I view it and what I hear from Realtors – is essentially they are ripping off consumers. It’s almost as if HUD needs to be turned over to the CFPB to be investigated"...

Are officials at HUD worried that JPM's Jamie Dimon may follow through on his threat to leave the FHA program? Not in the least.

FHA single-family endorsements fell 55.6 percent in the first four months of 2014, compared to the same period last year, but the impact was far from uniform across the country. A new analysis by Inside FHA Lending, an affiliated newsletter, shows that housing markets where FHA loan limits were reduced this year have seen a bigger drop in FHA business than elsewhere in the country. In counties with lower FHA loan limits, production in the first four months of 2014 was down 57.7 percent from a year ago, while production in markets where there was no change fell 51.3 percent. FHA lending declined...

If JPMorgan Chase were to exit the FHA program, plenty of other residential lenders would pick up the slack, according to officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, who in a press briefing this week indicated the agency is hardly worried about such a development. “There are plenty of other lenders,” said one senior HUD official. “Their [JPM’s] volume has dropped. Quicken is now number one.” During an earnings call last week, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon questioned...

Or perhaps the FHA is concerned that the private mortgage insurance industry will continue to gain market share at its expense?

More than two years have passed since Bank of America parted ways with Fannie Mae on selling new purchase-money loans to the government-sponsored enterprise and no remedy seems in sight regarding a resolution to the matter. “There’s no change that I’m aware of related to the Fannie Mae situation,” said a spokesman for the bank. “We’re able to handle our loan origination business just fine with Freddie Mac.” According to figures compiled by Inside MBS & ABS, BofA did sell...

MBS from Freddie Mac backed by modified mortgages offer investors protection from prepayment risk in an environment in which interest rates are expected to climb, according to analysts at Barclays Capital. The analysts said Freddie’s H-pools are particularly attractive, as the loans in the deals have been restructured under the Home Affordable Modification Program. Slightly more than $1.0 billion in H-pools have been issued, with the most recent activity in October. Barclays noted that Freddie could significantly increase its issuance of H-pools as the government-sponsored enterprise has accumulated a substantial amount of modified mortgages in its retained portfolio in recent years. Freddie had...

Subprime auto lending is just about back to the levels seen before the financial crisis, with increased ABS issuance volumes, somewhat higher credit losses and more credit enhancement to offset declining ABS credit quality, according to new research from Standard & Poor’s Rating Services. While newer subprime auto ABS have more credit risk, ratings are expected to remain stable. During an S&P webinar this week, Amy Martin, a senior director at the rating service, pointed out...