Retail loan originations account for most new VA lending, but the correspondent channel plays an outsized role in the FHA market, especially in purchase-mortgage lending, according to a new analysis of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities data by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Over half (51.1 percent) of VA loans securitized through Ginnie MBS in the first quarter of 2016 were retail originations, but only 39.1 percent of FHA loans came through that channel. The biggest source of FHA loans was correspondent lenders, which accounted for 45.8 percent of loans securitized during the first three months of this year. That was actually slightly below the 49.2 percent correspondent share of FHA loans back in 2014 and 46.8 percent last year. Correspondents accounted for well over half (53.9 percent) of FHA purchase mortgages during the first quarter, while playing a more ... [ 3 charts ]

The Ginnie Mae servicing market continued to grow during the first three months of 2016, with most of the impetus coming from the VA home loan guaranty program. A new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of mortgage-backed securities data reveals that the amount of Ginnie servicing outstanding swelled to $1.544 trillion as of the end of March, a 1.65 percent gain from the previous quarter. Because issuer-servicers regularly repurchase seriously delinquent loans out of Ginnie MBS pools, the actual volume of government-insured loans outstanding was somewhat higher. The VA program saw the most growth, increasing by 3.25 percent in just three months, while FHA servicing in Ginnie MBS rose only 0.96 percent from December 2015. Servicing of rural housing loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture was up 1.34 percent, while the FHA insurance program for Native Americans ... {4 charts]

Ginnie Mae issued $93.41 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the first three months of 2016, an 8.6 percent drop from the previous quarter, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of loan-level MBS data, excluding FHA reverse-mortgage activity. Early 2016 was the slowest market in a year for Ginnie MBS production, though it still was stronger than most of the agency’s pre-2015 business. And issuance in the first quarter of 2016 was 17.0 percent ahead of the volume produced during the same period last year. The soft spot in the first quarter was FHA lending, especially purchase-mortgage activity. Issuers delivered $54.44 billion of FHA loans into Ginnie MBS during the period, a 12.1 percent drop from the fourth quarter, including a 15.0 percent decline in FHA purchase mortgages. Securitization of VA loans fell by a ... [4 charts].

Ginnie Mae securitization of jumbo mortgage loans with a VA guaranty rose significantly in 2015 despite a volume drop-off in the fourth quarter, according to Inside FHA/VA Lending’s analysis of agency data. Year-over-year results saw an almost 60 percent increase in Ginnie Mae mortgage securitization backed by VA jumbo loans. This was slightly dampened by 17.1 percent drop in VA MBS production in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter. All top-five VA jumbo securitizers – Wells Fargo, Freedom Mortgage Corp., PennyMac Corp., U.S. Bank, and Quicken Loans – reported significant drops quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year. Wells Fargo delivered a total of $5.0 billion in VA jumbo loans into Ginnie pools, making it the leading jumbo securitizer in that segment. This accounted for 17.7 percent of the market. Freedom Mortgage ended the year with $2.1 billion in ... [ Charts ]

With only a few isolated exceptions, VA and FHA lending was up sharply across the country last year, outstripping the private mortgage insurance business in nearly every state of the U.S., according to a new analysis by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Overall, FHA single-family mortgages securitized by Ginnie Mae increased 60.5 percent from 2014 and VA production was up 39.4 percent. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted a more subdued 26.2 percent increase in privately-insured loan volume. California remained the biggest mortgage market for the FHA, VA and private MIs, as well as uninsured mortgages. The FHA clearly won the mortgage insurance battle, boosting its share of insured loans in the Golden State from 41.1 percent in 2014 to 49.2 percent last year thanks to a whopping 89.8 percent jump in business. California had one of the highest concentrations of ... [ 3 charts ]

Private mortgage insurers have announced changes in their premium rate structure to make their pricing more risk-based. The question is would this drive borrowers with lower credit scores toward FHA? Lenders say that while the private MI rate changes appear to make it more expensive for borrowers with lower credit scores to obtain a conventional mortgage, FHA’s life-of-loan policy could also cost borrowers more in the end. Analysts, too, are confident that private MI risk-adjusted pricing will not have any significant impact on FHA, positive or otherwise. Six private mortgage insurers have updated their premium rate cards in keeping with the new capital requirements under the government-sponsored enterprises’ Private Mortgage Insurer Eligibility Requirements (PMIERs) that were implemented in January 2016. The proposed rate changes are subject to ...

A clause in a New York home-purchase contract excluding government-backed financing from seller consideration is raising potential disparate impact concerns. A residential-lending manager in Sarasota, FL, emailed Inside FHA/VA Lending a copy of the contract with the controversial language embedded in Section 8 under the heading “Mortgage Commitment Contingency.” The paragraph read in part, “… institutional lender agrees to make a first loan other than a VA, FHA or other governmentally insured loan, to purchaser …”. “The language makes clear that no government-backed loans such as VA, FHA or USDA are acceptable to the seller [of the property],” the lender, who requested anonymity, said. “It is pretty rampant as cash is king and no one on the selling side wants to wait for payment.” Apparently, such clauses are nothing new. In fact, they have been around for ...

Sellers delivered $35. 2 billion in VA loans into Ginnie Mae pools in the fourth quarter of 2015, down 15.0 percent from the previous quarter, according to Inside FHA/VA Lending’s analysis of Ginnie loan-level data. Retail lenders and correspondents accounted for the bulk of VA loans securitized during the quarter. Retail accounted for 45.8 percent of VA purchase loans, enjoying a slight edge over correspondents, which comprised 45.5 percent of securitized VA loans. The broker share of securitized VA purchase loans was 8.7 percent, down 21.2 percent from the third quarter. Meanwhile, retail accounted for 53.8 percent of Ginnie mortgage-backed securities backed by VA refinance loans in the fourth quarter, while correspondents’ share was down to 28.5 percent. The broker channel accounted for 17.7 percent of VA loans securitized during the period. The average FICO score on Ginnie VA loans in the ... [1 chart]

While they are effective, the VA’s Frequently-Asked-Questions on the qualified mortgage interim final rule provide helpful guidance on certain aspects of Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans (IRRRLs) origination as they relate to the VA QM rule, according to an analysis by the Washington, DC, law firm K&L Gates. The intricacies of IRRRL treatment under the interim final rule suggest the product may continue to be subject to ambiguities disproportionate to its limited role in the mortgage marketplace, wrote authors Kristie Kully and Eric Mitzenmacher, attorneys with the firm. VA’s interim final rule provides that all VA loans are QMs. The authors note that while most VA loans are safe harbor QMs under the rule, certain streamlined refinance loans (IRRRLs) are entitled only to a rebuttable presumption. Under the VA interim final rule, an IRRRL is deemed to have safe harbor QM status if the ...

The FHA and VA mortgage servicing markets saw relatively little growth but steady performance trends during the fourth quarter of 2015, after a turbulent market early in the year. A new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae disclosure data shows delinquency rates edged slightly lower at the end of last year, although virtually all of the improvement was in the less-severe category of loans 30-60 days past due. The 60-to-90-day delinquency rate was unchanged for FHA loans but up slightly for VA loans. And both programs saw modest increases in loans more than 90 days past due. The data provide a mixed view of growth in the outstanding supply of FHA and VA servicing. According to Ginnie’s monthly summary, the outstanding balance of single-family mortgage-backed securities (excluding home-equity conversion mortgage pools) was $1.495 trillion at the end of ... [ 4 charts ]