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Inside Mortgage Trends

November 9, 2018

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GSE Credit Box Opened Slightly Wider In Third Quarter as Rates Ticked Higher

The credit window for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family mortgages opened a little wider during the third quarter of 2018 as competition intensified in the primary market. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of mortgage-backed securities issued by the government-sponsored enterprises during the third quarter revealed modest increases in the shares of purchase mortgages with low credit scores, although trends in loan-to-value ratios were mixed ... [Includes two data charts] Read More

Odds of GSE Reform May Not Have Changed Much

With Democrats recapturing control of the House of Representatives this week, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, expected to chair the House Financial Services Committee, the odds of housing-finance reform becoming a reality in 2019 didn’t improve all that much. In short, legislative reform remains a long shot. At least that’s the consensus of industry lobbyists and analysts interviewed this week by Inside Mortgage Trends. “Could Waters get something done?” asked ... Read More

No Need to Fear Growth of Cash-Out Refi, Says UI

Cash-out refinancing is on the rise again, driven by rising interest rates and strong home-price appreciation, but there is no cause for alarm, according to the Urban Institute. Using Freddie Mac’s quarterly numbers on the refi market, UI found that the share of refi loans where borrowers tapped into their home equity has reached 77 percent of total refis in the second quarter of 2018. That was the market’s highest point since 2008, just as housing valuations began to tank ... Read More

PrimeLending Recruits LOs, Cuts Poor Performers

PrimeLending is churning through loan originators, recruiting strong candidates and letting go of “non-performers” as lenders battle for purchase mortgages. In recent months, the retail lender owned by PlainsCapital Bank hired about 250 LOs and released about 200 others, according to Alan White, chairman of PlainsCapital Bank and co-CEO and vice chairman of Hilltop Holdings, which owns the bank. “We’ve been able to upgrade our staff,” he said during Hilltop’s earnings call ... Read More

First Horizon Profits from Warehouse Lending

First Horizon National Corp. is seeing strong profits from its warehouse lending efforts. Loans to mortgage companies are the bank holding company’s most profitable lending business, according to officials at First Horizon. Warehouse lending is completed through the company’s banking subsidiary, First Tennessee. As of the end of the second quarter, First Tennessee had $3.0 billion in warehouse lending commitments, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. BJ Losch, an executive ... Read More

Nonbank Profits a Mixed Affair in Third Quarter

The profit picture varied widely among the shrinking number of publicly-traded nonbank mortgage lenders during the third quarter. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis reveals that seven companies generated a total of $235.45 million from their mortgage banking businesses during the third quarter. That was up 14.8 percent from the previous period largely because New Residential Mortgage increased its profits and Impac cut its losses. An eighth nonbank ... [Includes one data chart] Read More

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