Falling interest rates are sometimes a bad thing — case in point is Mr. Cooper and negative MSR marks. Also, it’s been somewhat quiet on the M&A front but perhaps a change is in the wind.
Interest rates are falling, refis are increasing and optimism abounds among many mortgage professionals. However, hiring has not been robust this spring but all that may soon change.
Most of the gain in production income occurred at JPMorgan Chase, which reversed an unusual loss in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo accounts for most of the increase in servicing profits.
JPMorgan Chase reported a $200 million increase in mortgage banking income in the first quarter of 2019, a period when the banking industry managed just a $21 million gain.
The ailing Ditech Financial signaled in a new SEC filing that it will no longer file public reports on its quarterly and monthly results. The move comes days before bids are due on the franchise.
A bird's-eye view suggests retail originations had higher credit scores and lower DTI ratios than loans produced by correspondents and brokers. But third-party originators generated lower-risk loans at the agency level.
Mortgages with low credit scores and higher loan-to-value ratios accounted for a larger share of Fannie/Freddie purchase business in the first quarter. But the industry is hardly in a race to the bottom despite slumping volume and tight margins.
A group of 22 banks reported a combined $1.84 billion in mortgage banking income for the first three months of 2019, a solid improvement from the fourth quarter but down from the same period last year.
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