Mortgage-banking income at nine major banks declined by 27.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter, according to an analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends.
While Congress is halfway through its two-week Easter/Passover recess, political pressure continues to build against the Senate’s bipartisan housing finance reform legislation, leading to growing doubt whether the scheduled markup of the bill will occur as scheduled later this month.
A new report by Fannie Mae finds that second-home mortgage market activity is in the midst of a strong rebound, representing a small yet significant corner of the mortgage market.
ICYMI: Late last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its guide to completing its integrated disclosure forms under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act.
While mostly associated with investors, a fair share of current homeowners rely on cash for home purchases as a way to avoid the hassles associated with mortgage closings.
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held more than 10 hearings last year in advance of the housing-finance reform bill introduced in March by Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID. However, the bill appears to be far from perfect, as industry participants are angling to make suggestions for changes as the committee plans a markup at the end of this month. Perhaps the biggest outstanding issue with S.1217 is that even though the Johnson-Crapo bill calls for the preservation of the to-be-announced market, the capital-markets execution contemplated under the new housing-finance system might not be compatible with TBA transactions. The Johnson-Crapo version of S. 1217 doesn’t have...