Ginnie Mae continued growing its forward-mortgage servicing portfolio during the first quarter, leading to a rising share of high-coupon mortgages. Meanwhile, the GSE servicing market contracted slightly. (Includes two data tables.)
City National hopes to get in on the ground floor of a turnaround in MSR-backed lending. The federally insured depository is joining other warehouse providers that play in the space, but there are risks.
Hunterbrook Capital is going after United Wholesale Mortgage, lobbing allegations and shorting stock in the nonbank; Michael Barr, vice chair for supervision at the Fed doesn’t find the rhetoric regarding bank capital requirements particularly useful; Ocwen plans to rebrand as Onity.
Vendors that ply their trade in the subservicing arena aren’t growing very quickly these days, though there are exceptions. Meanwhile, M&A activity has resulted in some attrition and more could be on the way. (Includes data table.)
What would mortgage bankers do if they didn’t have a massive reservoir of mortgage servicing rights to rely on during difficult times? Best not to think about it. But the good news is that servicing values remain strong.
The biggest growth in the mortgage market during the fourth quarter was in home equity loans. Ginnie Mae continued as drum major in the MBS market. (Includes three data tables.)
Housing Secretary Fudge resigns; IRS postpones controversial changes to IVES; regulators to alter Basel capital proposal; banking regulators waive appraisal requirements in Maui; feedback sought on bank call-report proposal.
Questions posed by Supreme Court justices during oral arguments suggest the court could rule in favor of banks seeking preemption from state laws requiring interest payments on mortgage escrow accounts.
Is Onity Group eyeing a sale? Perhaps. And why not? Servicing values are approaching a 25-year high.
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