The mortgage process met or exceeded the expectations of many homebuyers; interest rates look to be too high for potential homebuyers; the defect rate on mortgages declined again; tech vendor raises $19 million; Altisource Asset Management exits mortgage market.
Lenders look to remote online notarization; Ocrolus offers rep-and-warrant coverage for income calculations; ICE offers tool to facilitate reconsiderations of appraisals; Planet Home launches products to help borrowers compete with cash offers; property insurance costs rise nearly 20%; Flagstar plans tech accelerator program; disconnect on homebuyers’ plans and saving for a downpayment.
Repurchase and indemnification activity at banks and thrifts in the third quarter was the lowest since at least the second quarter of 2016. (Includes data table.)
Commercial banks reported a slight sequential increase in repurchases in the second quarter. But at the midway point this year, buybacks were down sharply compared to the first half of last year. (Includes data chart.)
James Brody, a senior litigation partner at Garris Horn, provided strategies lenders could use to avoid repurchase demands, which included negotiating contract terms, diversifying their investor deck and outsourcing underwriting.
Community awareness of and reckoning with systemic racism following the BLM protests in 2020 appears to have led lenders to reduce the interest rate gap between Black and white borrowers.
There was no surge in buyback activity at banks and thrifts in the first quarter. And the depositories aren’t expecting a deluge as reserves for repurchases declined. (Includes data chart.)
Mortgage repurchases by banks declined by 27% during the fourth quarter. Reserves tied to repurchases increased, suggesting that mortgage buybacks could go back up in 2023. (Includes data chart.)
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