California continued to lead all states in FHA and VA mortgage securitization in the first three months of 2018. The Golden State accounted for 15.3 percent of the $50.6 billion of FHA loans delivered into Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities in the first quarter. FHA loans comprised 18.2 percent of loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, and 34.6 percent of agency-securitized loans with primary mortgage insurance. About 66.6 percent of FHA loans securitized during the period were for purchase mortgages while refinance loans accounted for 27.5 percent. The average loan-to-value ratio of FHA loans in Ginnie pools was 93.0 percent. The average credit score of 668.2 reflected FHA’s traditional base of lower-income and first-time homebuyers, with an average debt-to-income ratio of 42.4 percent. The other states among the top five in terms of FHA deliveries into Ginnie pools were ... [Chart]

The purchase-mortgage share of jumbo originations increased in 2017 on an annual basis, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The loans accounted for 63.6 percent of the $317.29 billion of jumbos originated in 2017, up from a 53.5 percent share the previous year. The emphasis on purchase mortgages varied among the top jumbo lenders. Purchase loans accounted for 69.4 percent ... [Includes three data charts]

Ellington Financial wants to speed up its issuance of non-agency mortgage-backed securities but competition for non-qualified mortgages is getting in the way. Ellington issued its first MBS backed by non-QMs in November. All of the mortgages in the $141.2 million deal were originated by LendSure. Ellington has an equity investment in the lender. Laurence Penn, president and CEO of Ellington, said the firm is preparing to issue another non-agency MBS and the nonbank would prefer to ...

More small banks can soon receive qualified-mortgage status for certain originations even if the loans would otherwise be non-QMs thanks to provisions in the Dodd-Frank reform legislation signed into law last week. The new type of QM will be available to banks and credit unions with less than $10.0 billion in total assets. Originations held in portfolio by such institutions will receive QM status if they meet a variety of standards. The exemption is already provided to depositories with ...

Congress has sealed the deal on Dodd-Frank reform with a 258-159 vote last week in the House. Thirty-three House Democrats voted in favor of the reg relief bill, which President Trump promptly signed into law. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act passed the Senate in March on a bipartisan 67-31 vote. The House approved S. 2155 last week without making any amendments. …

The regulatory relief bill which last week became law makes changes to the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule, and attorneys expect that more major changes will come from the bureau’s reassessment of the qualified-mortgage standards. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act will allow financial institutions with less than $10 billion in assets to offer mortgages that don’t meet all the requirements of the QM rule, such as ...

Senate Democrats are asking for more information from Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney about the reorganization of the bureau’s student protection unit and ending public disclosure of the consumer complaint database. Sen. Sherrod Brown, OH, ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray, WA, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, led the group ...

The CFPB payday lending rule has survived Congress, but Acting Director Mick Mulvaney suggested that the bureau will work with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to change it. “The bureau will strive to expand consumer choice, and I look forward to working with the OCC and other partners on efforts to promote access and innovation in the consumer credit marketplace,” Mulvaney said in a statement. The acting director applauded an OCC ...

Treasury Official Sees Major Impact from Single Security. A key Treasury Department official suggested that issuers of non-agency MBS may someday participate in the common securitization platform being developed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Craig Phillips, counselor to the Treasury, said the industry has made a lot of progress toward the launch of the single security that is scheduled for June 2019. “Industry preparedness is about an eight or nine on a scale of 10,” he said during remarks at this week's secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association in New York. Phillips characterized the...

A recent announcement by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to seek public comment on its 2013 disparate-impact rule is an opportunity for both HUD and the industry to clarify the liability issues it raises, said compliance experts. On May 10, HUD announced it would formally seek public input on whether the disparate-impact regulation is in tune with the Supreme Court of the United States’ 2015 decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. The HUD rule affirmed the use of disparate impact to establish liability for violations of the Fair Housing Act. It lays out a three-step approach to determining FHAct liability. The first step requires the plaintiff to demonstrate that a practice or a policy has a discriminatory effect on a protected class of persons. According to the rule, liability may be established even if the ...