FHA lenders are anticipating long-awaited guidance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development implementing sweeping changes related to reverse-mortgage borrowers in default for not paying their taxes and insurance. But don’t be surprised if HUD issues additional guidance before the implementation date, said James Wright, an attorney with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings’ Birmingham office. First announced in April 2015, the guidance sets...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has revised reasonable diligence timeframes in 32 jurisdictions and provided guidance on judicial foreclosure of FHA loans in the District of Columbia. The updated timeframes are effective for all cases in which the deadline for taking the first legal action in a foreclosure occurs on or after Jan. 1, 2016. The revised schedule of attorney fees is...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to manage and market the latter’s inventory of real estate-owned single-family and multifamily properties. Mike Frueh, director of the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program, revealed the agreement during a recent hearing by the House Committee on Veterans Affairs on the state of program. Frueh told...

Late last week, Moody’s Investors Service published an analysis detailing risks from mortgage warehouse securitizations. The warning was published days after a $225.0 million deal from Jefferies Funding was issued with a Aaa rating from Moody’s. Analysts at Moody’s stressed that securitized mortgage warehouse facilities face risks that differ from traditional residential MBS. The analysts said Station Place Securitization Trust 2016-1 from Jefferies addressed the risks, prompting the Aaa rating. Station Place was backed...

The FHA insured more loans that were packaged in agency mortgage-backed securities last year than any of its rivals in the primary mortgage-insurance business, but private mortgage companies came out on top in the purchase-mortgage sector. FHA loans accounted for 38.8 percent of insured mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae last year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of MBS loan-level data ... [Includes one data chart]

Private mortgage insurers saw spirited competition in 2015, both within their own ranks and against a surge in government-insured products, especially the FHA program, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Private MIs wrote coverage on an estimated $219.64 billion in mortgage originations last year, a 23.2 percent increase from 2014. The estimate includes $315 million in coverage on Home Affordable Refinance Program loans provided by the three MIs in run-off mode. The private MI business surge included...[Includes three data tables]

Top officials of the Department of Housing and Urban Development have explicitly ruled out lower FHA premiums or making other significant changes in the program any time soon. Testifying before a House Financial Services subcommittee late last week, FHA Commissioner Edward Golding did not provide any updated guidance on mortgage insurance premiums but made clear there are no plans to revise FHA’s current life-of-loan policy. Under the existing FHA policy, borrowers are required...

The House of Representatives last week passed legislation containing a provision to eliminate the cap on VA loan guaranty limits. Sponsored by Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-OH, the “Veterans Employment, Education, and Healthcare Improvement Act,” H.R. 3016, included an amendment added by Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-NY, in committee. The amendment would eliminate the maximum loan amount the VA will guarantee, allowing more veterans to purchase homes in high-cost areas such as San Francisco and San Jose, CA. The bill was agreed to...

FHA forward mortgage endorsements fell significantly in the fourth quarter of 2015 with a decline in purchase mortgages and an even bigger drop in refinance loans due to rising interest rates, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of agency data. Total FHA production fell 22.2 percent from the third quarter to $58.1 billion in the fourth quarter, spurred by steep declines in purchase originations (down 21.5 percent) and refis (30.0 percent). Fixed and adjustable-rate mortgages also saw their volumes drop by 22.1 percent and 30.2 percent, respectively, during the same period. The percentage of conventional loans that refinanced into FHA loans decreased slightly. FHA baseline lending (loans below $417,000) also declined by 22.0 percent quarter-to-quarter, as did FHA conforming jumbos (loan amounts up to the statutory high-cost loan limit), which saw volume drop 24.4 percent in the fourth quarter. FHA jumbos exceeding $625,500 did not escape the carnage as production fell ...

Nonbanks now rule the top echelon of FHA lenders with one major bank left in a sector once ruled by large banks. That lone bank is Wells Fargo, clinging hard and fast to its number-two spot among the top 10 FHA lenders in 2015. Wells Fargo, which recently agreed in principle to pay $1.2 billion to resolve FHA-related civil claims, ended 2015 with $6.3 billion in total FHA originations, up from $5.1 billion in the prior year. Gone from the top lender ranking is Bank of America, which in 2014 ranked fifth with total originations of $1.7 billion. Currently, BofA is 22nd in the ranking with $1.4 billion in FHA loans made last year. Also gone from the elite ranking is JPMorgan Chase Bank, which in 2014 was sixth with $1.7 billion in total originations. Data indicate that the bank has been gradually pulling back its FHA lending over the past year and has now dropped to number 159 in the ... [1 chart]