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Inside Mortgage Finance

October 30, 2009

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Mortgage Origination Volume Dropped Sharply In 3Q09, But 2009 May End on Rising Trend

Mortgage originations in the third quarter of 2009 declined by 25.5 percent from the boom level reached in the second quarter, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. The huge surge in refinance activity that generated nearly $1 trillion in new mortgage originations during the first half of the year finally lost momentum in the third quarter, as new production fell to an... Read More

Seeds of Recovery Planted, but Uncertainty Dominates Future of Mortgage Market, Government Involvement

Economists, secondary market investors and government officials this week expressed optimism about the outlook for the mortgage finance industry, but the shape, speed and magnitude of the recovery are still uncertain due to unprecedented government participation in the market. The landscape for lenders and servicers is drastically different than it has ever been before, industry experts said at the... Read More

FHA Ends 2009 Fiscal Year With a Bang, Topping $100 Billion in Quarterly Originations for the First Time

A record $104.2 billion of home mortgages were endorsed for FHA insurance during the third quarter of 2009, lifting total production for the program to $360.7 billion for the government’s fiscal year – nearly $1 billion a day. That was up 75.5 percent from fiscal 2008, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. While FHA mortgages that financed a home purchase rose 68.3 percent from... Read More

HFSC Passes Comprehensive CFPA Bill with Key Changes in Scope, Powers, Preemption

After much partisan wrangling, the House Financial Services Committee late last week approved legislation creating a new federal agency that would protect consumers from harmful financial products and business practices and establish a new regulatory regime for financial services providers. The bill, H.R. 3126, the “Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009,” was reported out of... Read More

Senate Eyes Compromise Extension of Homebuyer Tax Credit as Market Recovery Hangs in Balance

The leadership of the Senate was working to schedule a vote this week on compromise legislation that would extend the first-time homebuyer tax credit at a slightly diminished level until the end of April, with an additional 60-day extension if a binding contract is in place by that date. Leading up to the vote, industry groups had been throwing their lobbying muscle behind S.1230, the Home Buyer Tax... Read More

HUD Overhauls HOPE for Homeowners Program, But Complexity and Falling Home Prices Dim Outlook

The Department of Housing and Urban Development last week released a comprehensive rewrite of the rules for HOPE for Homeowners, an FHA refinance program for distressed borrowers that has failed to get any liftoff since it was rolled out of the launch pad a year ago. The latest changes to the program were authorized by Congress in the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and they feature a reduced FHA... Read More

In a First, Fannie, Freddie Join Forces to Help Provide Liquidity to State Housing Agencies

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be working side by side in a new program to facilitate liquidity in the state housing finance agency bond market in the latest Obama administration initiative. The three-pronged joint venture represents an unprecedented level of mutual activity and coordination between the two long-time rivals, and it emphasizes the deep and long-standing relationship that the two... Read More

House Oversight Panel Launches Probe of Controversial VIP Loan Program Allegedly Used to ‘Buy Influence’

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform late last week issued a subpoena to Bank of America to turn over all loan records, documents and communications pertaining to Country-wide Financial Corp.’s VIP Program. Also known as “Friends of Angelo,” named for Countrywide’s former CEO Angelo Mozilo, the program allegedly provided special mortgage deals to influential, well-connected people... Read More

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