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Inside Mortgage Finance

December 17, 2009

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Home-Equity Lending Continued to Decline In 3Q09, But Some Firms Seized Opportunity

Second-mortgage loan originations continued to decline during the third quarter of 2009 as portfolio lenders watched rising default rates on a product that is still almost universally held on the balance sheets of commercial banks, thrifts and credit unions. Those depository institutions held a total of $944.20 billion in home-equity lines of credit and... [Includes three charts] Read More

Democrats Made Significant Compromises to Keep Sweeping Reform Legislation Strong

The House of Representatives last week passed comprehensive regulatory reform and restructuring legislation on the strength of compromises Democrats made to keep their ranks intact to stave off a vigorous attempt by Republicans and the financial services industry to kill or weaken the bill. Not a single Republican voted for H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection... Read More

FHA, Ginnie Mae, Mortgage Fraud Initiatives Get Significant Appropriations from Congress

The FHA single-family mortgage insurance program and initiatives for combating and preventing mortgage fraud accounted for a major portion of appropriations approved by Congress for the Department of Housing and Urban Development last week. The increased appropriations for key HUD initiatives are part of the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill approved by the Senate over the weekend which now awaits... Read More

Industry, Government Continue to Report Widely Different Levels of Loan Modification Success

The Treasury Department issued a report late last week that showed just 31,382 borrowers have obtained permanent workouts under the Obama administration’s ambitious mortgage modification program. The White House had initially estimated that 3 million to 4 million struggling homeowners might be helped but has had to drastically ratchet down expectations, even though... [Includes one chart] Read More

Mortgage Servicing Business Shrinks Again In 3Q09 But Agency Business Still Growing

The total supply of home mortgages in the U.S. market declined again during the third quarter of 2009, according to the Federal Reserve.The Fed late last week reported that $10.852 trillion of home loans were outstanding as of the end of September, down 0.8 percent from the previous quarter. That marked the seventh consecutive quarterly decline in a market that until... [Includes one chart] Read More

Option ARM Modifications Find Little Success, Resets Still Loom Despite Lessons Learned

Industry experts can easily identify the problems with option ARMs that were made from 2004 to 2008, but modifying these loans, many of which are in default or underwater, is more difficult to do. An estimated $500 billion option ARMs are outstanding, and about $150 billion of them are due to reset over the next two years. Most were made by lenders as the mortgage market bubble reached its... Read More

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