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Inside Mortgage Trends

December 21, 2018

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Production-Related Activity Saw Profit Boost in 3Q18 Despite Lending Slowdown

Mortgage lending and secondary market activity generated a modest increase in earnings for a diverse group of publicly held companies, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of earnings reports. At the same time, servicing income was down substantially. The 13 companies included in the roundup reported a combined $816.3 million in income from production-related activity during the third quarter. That was up 2.8 percent from the ... [Includes one data chart] Read More

Firm Set to Launch Broker Tech Platform

An association of mortgage brokers has partnered with a technology company to create a platform brokers can use to interact with different wholesale lenders and vendors. The platform will allow brokers to check pricing among various wholesale lenders, lock interest rates and upload documentation from borrowers, among other features. The platform is called Arive and was developed by a company with the same name. Members of the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts ... Read More

GSE Buyback Activity Down to a Whisper

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sellers had to repurchase just $173.34 million of home loans during the third quarter of 2018 due to defects in the origination process, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends. It was the lowest quarterly buyback total since the two government-sponsored enterprises began filing repurchase activity disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission in early 2012. There was, however, a 12.9 percent increase ... [Includes two data charts] Read More

Texas Capital’s Warehouse Business is Doing Well

For a company that’s coming off two back-to-back quarters of strong earnings, Texas Capital Bancshares, Dallas, is in a curious place: Its stock value continues to suffer mightily and its competitors in the warehouse sector believe its pricing is just too cutthroat to make sense. As Inside Mortgage Trends went to press late this week, TCBI’s common was trading at $50.17, a nick above its recent 52-week low of $49.34. Its high for the year is $103.05, which translates into a discount from ... Read More

Fix-and-Flip Activity Slowing, Says Attom

Investors who focus on fixing homes and then selling them were less reliant on financing in the third quarter, according to Attom Data Solutions. A decline in the share of fix-and-flip financing has occurred at the same time that overall flipping activity is slowing. “Home flipping acts as a canary in the coal mine for a cooling housing market because the high velocity of transactions provides home flippers with some of the best and most real-time data on how the market is trending,” said Daren Blomquist ... Read More

Analysts Call for New Digital Registry System

Legislation is needed to establish a digital registry system for mortgages and titles, according to two industry analysts, who recently released the Simplified Mortgage and Recorded Title Act, a proposed bill they claim will help prompt the return of a robust private secondary market for mortgages. The proposed legislation was drafted by William Fry, the sole proprietor of Greenwich Capital, and Robert Hockett, a professor at Cornell Law School. Prospects for the SMART Act look ... Read More

Market Not Meeting Needs of Self-Employed

Self-employed households have been slower to recover from the financial crisis even though they make more money than salaried households, according to a new study from The Urban Institute. The study attributes the situation partly to the fact that incomes for self-employed households are still below pre-crisis levels while incomes for salaried households have largely recovered. Also, mortgage use and the homeownership rate have largely declined more for self-employed ... Read More

Retail Lending, Loan Sales Sag in 3Q18

Commercial banks and savings institutions reported a total of $71.41 billion in home loan originations through their retail mortgage banking platforms during the third quarter of 2018, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call report data. Retail mortgage production was down 5.1 percent from the second quarter and left year-to-date originations 13.6 percent below the amount reported during the first nine months of last year. The figures ... [Includes one data chart] Read More

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