The FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund may be healthy enough to support a cut in forward-mortgage premiums, but officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development aren’t yet willing to pull the trigger. HUD this week released its annual FHA audit showing strong improvement in the MMI Fund from the forward-mortgage side of the ledger. During a press briefing, Edward Golding, principal deputy assistant secretary for housing, said the strong audit results “do indicate there is room to return pricing to that which reflects the risks in the program.” He noted that the $245 billion in new FHA business in fiscal 2016 clearly added to the strength of the MMI Fund, “with indications we’re pricing above the risk of the program.” At the same time, Golding made...
Since the historic election of last week, interest rates have been steadily rising, turning the tables on what increasingly looked like a moribund market for servicing sales. But not anymore. Since the Nov. 8 election, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury has spiked 50 basis points to 2.24 percent with mortgage rates following in the wake. And while this spells bad news for originators – especially refinance specialists – it’s manna from heaven for holders of mortgage servicing rights. As Inside Mortgage Finance went to press this week, market makers were...
Other servicing brokers are still assessing market conditions with some rate watchers like Barry Habib cautioning against a “head fake” on where things may wind up.
It’s safe to say that many mortgage CEOs and their attorneys are cheering on Quicken. It’s not often that a lender fights back this strong against the government in an FHA.
Fannie Mae and SoFi introduced a new loan option last week that lets homeowners take advantage of low rates and use the equity in their home to pay down college loans. Under the Student Loan Payoff ReFi, homeowners can refinance mortgages and cash out while paying down an existing loan balance. Fannie estimates that just 1.8 percent of the cash-out mortgages it finances today are being used to pay off student loans. With cash-out refinances growing, Deutsche Bank said it expects to see refinance activity and mortgage-backed security issuance tick up. The new product is driven by cutting guaranty fees that usually accompany Fannie cash-out mortgages. GSE officials said they received approval...
Second-ranked AGNC Investment Corp. – formerly American Capital Agency Corp. – reported a 2.2 percent increase in its MBS holdings under a new management structure…
Ginnie Mae’s decision to change the pooling requirements for streamline refinance loans should boost investor confidence and slow new production of GNMA IIs, Deutsche Bank analysts said. The change could be seen as mildly more restrictive than current pooling standards, particularly having more impact on VA loans, which unlike FHA, have no seasoning requirement to qualify for streamline refinancing, said Jeana Curro, bank research analyst. Under new guidance issued last month, in order to be pooled into standard Ginnie I or Ginnie II multi-issuer pools, streamline refi loans must show...
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