It was mortgage market Armageddon this week, courtesy of the corona-virus. Lenders were knee-deep in refis but fears mounted regarding an expected spike in delinquencies and about nonbank liquidity. The feds issued a foreclosure moratorium on government and GSE loans.
Arch Mortgage Insurance retained its ranking as the top private MI in the business, but several of its competitors gained market share in 2019. (Includes two data charts.)
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae securitized $819 billion of insured loans in 2019, up 20% from the previous year. Insured agency refi business soared by 120% from 2018.
The stock market boomed in 2019 and mortgage stocks followed right along. Mortgage insurance equities had nice gains but the top performers were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Includes data chart.)
The private MI industry wrote $118.2 billion of new insurance during the third quarter, coming within a whisker of matching the all-time high set 16 years ago. (Includes two data charts.)
It was a bravura performance for the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund in fiscal 2019. The MMIF ended the year with a capital ratio of 4.8%, more than double the statutory minimum.
The industry’s mood at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual conference last week seemed optimistic. But global uncertainty with China and trade, and Brexit could cut the good times short.