The new approach is expected to be a more cost-effective route than going through the repeated repurchase requests that have plagued lenders over the years.

The bank's expansion into government lending comes after a noticeable decline in its share price...

The higher loan limits take effect Jan. 1. Sullivan said consumers are likely contacting the resource center to get in last-minute questions.

We’re hearing more chatter of mortgage lenders starting a loan officer “scorecard” approach to grading their salesmen and women...

The share of home-purchase transactions that closed on time in November declined compared with October for all six loan types tracked by HousingPulse...

The supply of single-family MBS outstanding grew again in the third quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. At the end of September, $6.381 trillion of single-family MBS were outstanding, a 0.7 percent increase from the second quarter. The market has moved in fits and starts since the end of 2009, but the September mark was the highest since the third quarter of 2013. The supply of non-agency MBS in the market has moved...[Includes two data tables]

The seven-year-old era of zero interest rates finally came to an end this week when the Federal Reserve began what may be the first in a series of small rate hikes, opting for a modest 25 basis point rise in the federal funds rate. However, the U.S. central bank also implied it expects four more quarter-point interest rate increases next year. The median projection among Fed Open Market Committee participants for the federal funds rate rises gradually to nearly 1.50 percent in late 2016 and 2.50 percent in late 2017, Fed chair Janet Yellen said in discussing the central bank’s latest moves. Further, as the factors restraining economic growth continue to fade over time, in their view, the projected median rate rises...

A precedent-setting court case decided in May has disrupted the MBS and ABS markets, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the Structured Finance Industry Group. The trade groups filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States late last week, calling for the court to hear an appeal of the ruling in Madden v. Midland Funding. In May, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that federal preemption under the National Bank Act doesn’t apply to nonbanks that purchase loans from banks. The Madden ruling subjects nonbank purchasers of loans originated by banks to state usury laws. If a bank’s preemption from such laws isn’t transferred when a nonbank acquires a loan originated by a bank, the loan can be...

The U.S. residential MBS sector will continue its slow, steady recovery in 2016 amid a host of challenges, showing further improvement in housing fundamentals, credit quality and mortgage performance, according to analysts. The challenges to MBS structured financing boil down to the following: tapering of Federal Reserve investment in MBS, MBS supply and demand, interest rates and prepayment risk. Fitch Ratings notes...

Initial industry reaction to the rate hike was muted. Late this week, mortgage rates hardly budged...