With single-family mortgage originations swelling to their highest quarterly volume in two years, an unexpected source of new production strength came in the correspondent channel, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. An estimated $258.0 billion of new loans were funded through wholesale correspondent programs during the third quarter, the highest level since the third quarter of 2003. Correspondent production increased by 24.0 percent from the...
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Officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development are considering modest changes to FHA requirements designed to get a better grip on the use of downpayment assistance – but they say they would rather charge higher insurance premiums than impose tougher underwriting standards that could choke off the program. According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, some 30.5 percent of new FHA loans originated in fiscal 2004…
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The Department of Housing and Urban Development moved ahead with new policies for disclosing business data provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – despite objections raised by the government-sponsored enterprises – but industry researchers are still not satisfied with the level of disclosure. Under a final rule published in the Nov. 10 Federal Register, whenever HUD determines that data provided by the GSEs should no longer be classified as proprietary information…
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Fannie Mae officials said they are pleased that the government-sponsored enterprise garnered a larger share of the originations market during the third quarter, but they also said the company would not assume greater risks to chase volume and claimed that many alternative loan products are priced too low relative to their underlying risks. During a conference call with investors last week, Fannie officials noted that the GSE’s share of new…
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The wholesale market appears to be actively embracing the era of so-called piggyback loans – second mortgages used to reduce loan-to-value ratios and avoid private mortgage insurance. According to the results of a new nationwide study of the wholesale mortgage market sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance Publications and conducted by Campbell Communications, more than half of mortgage brokers surveyed reported using piggyback loans on 50 percent or more of their transactions…
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The House Financial Services Committee this week approved legislation that would increase the National Flood Insurance Program’s borrowing authority to $22 billion, allowing it to pay claims resulting from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. H.R. 4320, the National Flood Insurance Program Commitment to Policyholders and Reform Act of 2005, was approved by voice vote after lengthy debate on three amendments offered by Reps. Richard Baker, R-LA, Gary Miller, R-CA, and Melvin…
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Washington Mutual was the biggest supplier of mortgage financing for loans that exceeded the Fannie/Freddie purchase limits in 2004, according to a new analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data by Geosegment Systems. WaMu captured a 9.6 percent share of the jumbo market with $67.02 billion in high-balance originations, according to the HMDA data. The analysis includes only loans reported as originations by lenders, and does not include loan purchases…
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