The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago will issue mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae and backed by mortgages originated by member financial institutions, the two entities announced jointly this week. The new conduit product, called the MPF Government MBS, is an offshoot of the Chicago Banks Mortgage Partnership Finance program. The new product is intended to provide smaller mortgage lenders that lack direct access to the secondary mortgage market another option for their home-buying customers. Lenders will be able to choose whether to retain or release servicing on the government loans they originate with a reliable channel for selling their loans, according to FHLBank of Chicago President Matt Feldman.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is doing a poor job of overseeing FHA lenders, according to the agencys Office of the Inspector General, which has found high error rates in ongoing reviews of underwriting. FHA continues to struggle with poorly underwritten mortgages, according to testimony by HUD Inspector General David Montoya in a hearing this week before the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. In light of the apparent systemic problems with the underwriting of FHA insured loans and successful pursuit of civil enforcement against violators, the HUD IG joined with the Department of Justice and HUDs Office of General Counsel in early 2012 to focus on the underwriting practices of 10 of the largest FHA-approved lenders. To date, the underwriting of thousands of FHA insured...
The program is intended to provide smaller mortgage lenders that lack direct access to the secondary mortgage market with another option for their home buying customers.
Over the years, HUD has seen a steady decline in its staffing level perhaps to its lowest level ever, in fact while at the same time being called upon to administer an increasing number of programs.
A compare ratio north of 150 percent will land a lender on HUDs watch list. A ratio greater than 200 percent could result in disciplinary action and potential loss of FHA approval.
New issuance of agency single-family MBS fell in August to its lowest monthly total of the year, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae generated a total of $130.88 billion of new single-family MBS last month, down 9.3 percent from July. It was the lowest monthly production volume since December 2012. New issuance by the government-sponsored enterprises fluctuated sharply at that time as lenders jockeyed around rising guaranty fees and the implementation of more favorable reps and warranties policies. All three agencies saw...[Includes one data chart]
The GSEs continued to see solid increases in purchase-mortgage business, which increased by almost 7 percent from July to August. It was the fifth straight monthly gain for the two.
FeatherStone Investment Group has entered the fledgling real-estate-owned-to-rental securitization sector with a new program that allows broader investor participation in the transaction. Other securitized REO-to-rental deals only pay investors coupon and principal cash flows derived from rents on the properties, the company noted. FeatherStones program, on the other hand, would allow investors to participate in both the immediate rental cash flow as well as the potential capital gains from the sale of the properties in the deal. FeatherStones deal will be financed...
Fewer borrowers are using FHA financing, which has enabled private mortgage insurers to take back more market share from the FHA, according to Inside FHA Lendings analysis of industry data. Borrowers are shying away from FHA due to higher mortgage insurance premiums (MIPs) that took effect early this year and to the new policy eliminating MI cancellation. Private MIs accounted for 36.6 percent of primary mortgage insurance written in the second quarter, their highest level since 2008. This was up from 32.7 percent in the first quarter and from 30.5 percent a year ago. Private MIs also provided coverage on ...