Refinance lending ended 2024 on a high note as interest rates on mortgages declined in the second half of the year. The purchase-mortgage market saw little growth, most of it driven by first-time homebuyer activity.

The rising homeowner insurance crisis could make getting affordable coverage or getting coverage at all difficult in some parts of the country and, by extension, make properties in those areas unmortgageable.

Absent APOR figure, lenders and mortgage-backed securities buyers would be uncertain whether loans were QM.

VA is considering a rule that would require lenders to use a new application program interface to report loan information and remit funding fees to the agency. It also plans to rewrite rules regarding when VA would assert a defense for a partial or total loss of a guarantee.

The fees in question related to mortgage payments made over the phone or online. HUD said accepting and processing mortgage payments is part of a servicer’s ordinary activities for which it is already paid.

Among the changes, FHA has reduced the required rental income history to 12 months from two years.

Banks and thrifts repurchased $213.6 million of single-family mortgages during the third quarter, an 11.5% decline from the previous period.

Commercial banks and savings institutions reported another decline in the volume of mortgages they repurchased in the third quarter of 2024. PNC Bank accounted for the largest chunk of the bank industry’s repurchases, at 11.3%.

JPMorgan Chase had the most profitable mortgage-banking operation in the third quarter, with $633.0 million of income.

Combined, banks and thrifts reported $2.21 billion in mortgage-banking income during the third quarter, a slight increase from the previous period. Through the first nine months of the year, industry earnings were up 8.7% from the same period in 2023. (Includes data table.)