A lot of prospective homebuyers may be shut out of the market if their mortgage financing cant pass muster with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus qualified-mortgage standard, congressional testimony this week suggested. Witnesses from The Peoples Bank Company, of Coldwater, OH, and Quicken Loans said during a House Financial Services Financial Institutions Subcommittee hearing this week that their firms plan to stay away from making mortgages that dont fit into either the safe harbor or the rebuttable-presumption QM boxes. There is...
Expect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders to continue to clamor for attention and satisfaction this year whether or not the Obama administration and lawmakers confront claims that the government-sponsored enterprises should share their profits with investors, say industry observers. Late last week, Sen. Bob Corker, R-VA, sought to walk back comments he made regarding GSE shareholder rights while speaking at a policy forum in Washington, DC. Corker said that he and other lawmakers drafting an enhanced GSE reform bill in the Senate recognize that shareholder claims have to be dealt with. Following news of Corkers remark, GSE preferred shares posted...
The housing market is in the midst of a bubble or a gradual recovery, depending on who you ask. Analysts on either side of the debate point to the agency dominance of the mortgage market as one of the factors driving up home prices. Peter Wallison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, warned last week that the housing market is in the middle of another bubble. Housing bubbles become visible and can legitimately be called bubbles when housing prices diverge significantly from rents, he wrote in an op-ed published in the New York Times. Wallison pointed...
Private mortgage insurers have launched a number of initiatives to help lenders comply with the qualified-mortgage rule that took effect Jan. 10. The rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau puts new emphasis on capping debt-to-income ratios at 43 percent except for agency mortgages and limiting points and fees to 3 percent. Radian has announced 45-minute webinars discussing how QM impacts mortgage insurance as well as new, lower pricing for borrower-paid MI. The firms Loan Amount Estimator enables lenders that are capping their debt-to-income ratios at 43 percent to calculate maximum loan amounts and sale prices based on the MI product selected. In addition, the tool can be used for non-MI loans and is available through the MIs rate finder application, Radian Rates. United Guarantys QMI product allows...
The nations three largest funders of home mortgages Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America this week reported hefty declines in originations during the fourth quarter of 2013. Wells originated $50 billion in residential mortgages during the fourth quarter, a stunning 60 percent decline from the same period a year earlier. The last time this perennial market leader had fundings this low was in the fourth quarter of 2008 when financial markets were reeling worldwide and the U.S. housing market was in the throes of an historic collapse. But Wells closest competitors fared...[Includes one data chart]
Inside Mortgage Finance recently revised its product mix estimates to reflect a larger volume of home-equity loans originated during the first nine months of 2013. We also made...[Includes one data chart]
Mortgage lenders large and small have indicated they plan to stay away from making mortgages that do not fit into either the safe harbor or the rebuttable presumption QM boxes.
According to the banks fourth quarter earnings statement, 68 percent of its originations were refis the mirror image of Wells Fargo, which had 68 percent of its production in purchase-money loans.