Cart

Inside Mortgage Trends

January 18, 2013

View Archived Issues

CFPB Projects Modest Impact From Its New Ability-to-Repay Regulation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that about 70 percent of the mortgages originated from 1997 to 2003 would likely meet the agency’s new “qualified mortgage” designation. Under the agency’s recently minted ability-to-repay final rule, lenders that originated qualified mortgages will be legally protected against lawsuits brought by borrowers. The ATR rule itself broadly requires lenders to consider a number of factors in underwriting most home mortgages – a few loan types ... Read More

Secondary Markets Pushed Earnings Higher

Hefty secondary marketing margins continued to boost mortgage banking income at a faster pace than total sales activity during the third quarter of 2012, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of bank call report data. Banks and thrifts reported a total of $401.6 billion in sales of single-family mortgages during the third quarter, a hefty 11.5 percent increase from the previous three-month period. But mortgage banking income – which is derived largely from ... [Includes one data chart] Read More

Whole Loan Trades Take Up the Slack

Much attention over the last few years has centered on how best to help revive non-agency mortgage securitization. But recent advances in technology have enabled whole loan trading to emerge as a viable alternative that is filling some of the void left in the marketplace by less securitization. “At least in the U.S. residential debt market, we are seeing a much larger market for the trading of whole loans,” said Wyck Brown, president of Denver-based BlackBox Logic, a provider of loan-level data aggregation, analytics and consulting services. “Large whole loan blocks can ... Read More

Shakeup in the Appraisal Management Sector

A few weeks ago, ES Appraisal Services, Jacksonville, FL, closed its doors, the second national appraisal management company to go bust in the past year. The other was Appraisal Loft. ES Appraisal’s demise was a hardly a surprise. For months, industry message boards were full of comments from independent appraisers who worked as contractors for the firm, complaining about unpaid invoices. In December, the company sent an email to appraisers confirming the news. At one point the firm employed, on a contractual basis ... Read More

Newcastle to Spin Off Residential REIT

Newcastle Investment announced last week that it will spin off all of its excess mortgage servicing rights and certain other residential assets as part of a new real estate investment trust. The company also participated in another significant servicing transaction with Nationstar Mortgage. The publicly traded REIT spin-off is set to be completed during the first quarter of 2013 and will be known as New Residential Investment. “We believe the separation of Newcastle and New Residential will ... Read More

HLSS Buys Ocwen Servicing Fees, Will Issue ABS

Home Loan Servicing Solutions – an affiliate of Ocwen Financial – made some significant moves recently with an acquisition of rights to receive servicing fees on $34.6 billion in unpaid principal balance handled by Ocwen. And the company is set to issue a $750.0 million securitization backed by servicer advances. Near the end of December, HLSS announced that it acquired rights to receive servicing fees on nonprime mortgages. Ocwen will continue to service the mortgages, receive a monthly base fee ... Read More

ARM Rates Fell to Record Low

Interest rates on adjustable-rate mortgages fell to their lowest level ever early this year, but consumers continue to prefer fixed-rate products. Freddie Mac reported that the average initial rate for one-year ARMs offered in early January was just 2.56 percent, the lowest ever recorded in its 29-year-old survey. Fewer than half the participating lenders offer one-year ARMs, but initial rates on the more common three-year and five-year hybrids were 2.72 percent and ... [Includes one data chart] Read More

Latest Imf News

More Imf News

Featured Data

More Featured Data

Featured Reports

More Latest Reports

Featured Poll

As homeowner equity continues to build, more and more lenders are launching home equity lending products. Are you thinking of joining this market?

View Results