Cart

Inside Mortgage Finance

October 9, 2014

View Archived Issues

Private MI Volume Rides Summer Surge in GSE Business, Penetrates Deeper in Purchase Market

Mortgage lenders delivered $47.82 billion of single-family home loans with private mortgage insurance coverage to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the third quarter of 2014, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. That was up 29.9 percent from the second quarter of this year as the private MIs piggybacked on the surge in purchase-money mortgages securitized by the two government-sponsored enterprises. Private MI coverage was provided on 39.2 percent of purchase loans sold to the GSEs during the third quarter, and the industry has seen its penetration rate of the sector climb steadily. Back in the first quarter of 2013, only 31.3 percent of Fannie/Freddie purchase mortgages had...[Includes two data charts] Read More

MSR Firm MountainView Joins the ‘Rush’ To Non-QM Lending, Will Go Slow at First

MountainView, a firm known mostly for the market it makes in mortgage servicing rights, is branching out into non-QM lending, but company officials cautioned that its effort will start small. Moreover, a spokesman for the firm clarified that loans acquired through its new “Peak Program” will meet the ability-to-repay rule requirements, including the non-QM loans. “We expect... Read More

Expert Calls Dismissal of GSE Shareholder Lawsuit ‘Misguided,’ Discovery Best Bet for Plaintiffs Now

Shareholders are appealing a federal judge’s decision last week to toss out their legal challenge to the federal government’s siphoning off of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits, and a legal expert says they could be helped out by what comes out in discovery in other investor lawsuits. Speaking during a conference call sponsored by Investors Unite, New York School of Law Professor Richard Epstein – who does not own stock in the government-sponsored enterprises – blasted the “misguided” ruling by Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He characterized it as an overly generous interpretation of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 in favor of the Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. “Although the government claimed to be looking out for the shareholders, it ended up... Read More

Credit Unions Stake Bigger Claim in 2014 Mortgage Originations Market, Aided by Home-Equity Focus

Credit unions have been slowly expanding their share of new mortgage originations for the past decade, but in 2014 the industry crossed a symbolic threshold, according to a new Inside MortgageFinance analysis of call-report data. For the first time, the credit union industry owns a double-digit share of new originations. The industry originated $30.0 billion of home mortgages during the second quarter – or 10.2 percent of the $295.0 billion in total mortgage originations for the period. Back in 2004, credit unions accounted...[Includes one data chart] Read More

MBA Sets Up Task Force to Reopen Debate On Basel III and Its Impact on MSR Market

The Mortgage Bankers Association is on a mission to convince banking regulators to revisit the Basel III capital standards and to change the cap on how much mortgage servicing rights can count toward Tier I capital. The way things stand now, MSRs will be capped at 10 percent of capital when the rule is fully phased in, with the excess deducted from a depository’s “common equity.” Previously, the cap was 100 percent. In a draft letter to the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the MBA argues... Read More

Advocates Press FHFA Director Watt to Finance Housing Trust Fund After Lawsuit is Dismissed

Affordable housing advocates are continuing their full-court press against the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, demanding that the FHFA greenlight financing for the dormant National Housing Trust Fund after a setback in federal court. U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Cooke of the Southern District of Florida last week dismissed a lawsuit brought by the National Low Income Housing Coalition on the grounds that the NLIHC lacks standing to sue the FHFA. Cooke also found that the court does not have jurisdiction over the decisions of the agency. The coalition filed... Read More

If Third Time’s the Charm, SCOTUS May Finally Render An Opinion on Fair Housing Disparate-Impact Claims

The U.S. Supreme Court gets another crack at deciding whether plaintiffs can bring a disparate-impact lawsuit under the Fair Housing Act (and by extension, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act), a question that has divided courts, lenders and consumer advocacy groups for years. The court’s partial grant of the petition in the Texas case would be its third opportunity in two years to rule on the controversial question. Two prior cases raising that issue, Township of Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizen Action, Inc. and Magner v. Gallagher, were both settled before oral argument could be presented before the court. SCOTUS has agreed... Read More

Mortgage Underwriting Standards Have Eased Some In Recent Years, But Still Stiff Compared to the Boom

Mortgage underwriting standards are relaxing somewhat, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance, particularly as production has shifted from a focus on refinances to purchase mortgages. However, underwriting standards are much more stringent than they were before the financial crisis, with few options available for nonprime borrowers. The average credit score on purchase mortgages included... 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