Late last week, Black Knight released its measurement: 2.83 million mortgages in COVID-related relief for the seven-day period ending Dec. 29. The FHA/VA (GNMA) reading increased by 11,000 units.

One twist: As part of the proposed transaction, Blackstone will take a stake in the Chicago-based GR. However, no specifics were provided.

The nonbank lender/servicer filed its initial IPO documents in early October and was reportedly set to price the offering later that month.

In general, most of the delinquent loan buying has been done by the megabanks and top-ranked direct-FHA funders like Quicken Loans and PennyMac...

Reverse Mortgage Funding maintained its second-place position but trailed far behind with $743.5 million. Finance of America, which is controlled by the Blackstone Group, moved up a notch to third place with $577.0 million.

Kroll Bond Rating Service had a strong year over the first nine months of 2020, with a 12.4% increase in business from the same period in 2019...

The highest year-over-year gains were reported in Phoenix (12.7%), Seattle (11.7%), and San Diego (11.6%). Meanwhile, New York (6.0%), Chicago (6.3%) and Las Vegas (6.4%) lagged behind...

Still, the overall share of ARMs is declining. The loans accounted for 7.5% of first-lien originations in the first nine months compared to 10.8% for full year 2019.

Prepayments outpaced new production, prompting a decline in jumbo servicing volume.

FHA/VA originations through the correspondent channel increased by 48.5% during the third quarter, bringing the channel's market share to 31.3%.