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Inside Mortgage Finance

April 23, 2009

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Secondary Market Activity Remains Muted as Future Appears Unsettled

The secondary mortgage market is tied more closely to agency securitization programs than it ever has, but a broad range of complex issues could reshape the industry into something completely different over the next few years. “We’re going to have to get used to the idea that the market of the future is not going to look like the market of the past,” said Joseph Murin, president of... Read More

Warehouse Lending Problems Will Likely Have To be Resolved at Grassroots Level, Experts Say

The mortgage industry in recent months has worked feverishly to get government support to address the sudden evaporation of warehouse lending capacity, but the market may have to come up with its own solutions, according to industry experts at this week’s secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association.In recent weeks, several companies have announced... Read More

Refinance Boom Fuels Big First Quarter for Mortgage Lenders

The mortgage market rebounded from a dismal 2008 by posting strong totals in the first two months of this year, according to an Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of preliminary bank earnings reports and new Treasury Department data. The top 10 mortgage lenders that received federal assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program reported a combined 29 percent surge in... [Includes one chart] Read More

Major Lenders Announce New Hiring Plans as Refis, Jumbos Reinvigorate Mortgage Market

A surge in mortgage refinancing has brought new energy to the home loan market as most major lenders announced thousands of new positions to handle the wave of applications from borrowers seeking to take advantage of lower 30-year mortgage rates. Bank of America has extended 5,000 of the 7,500 jobs it targeted for elimination after its acquisition of Countrywide Financial... Read More

Private MIs Recouped Benefits from Lender-Sponsored Captive Reinsurance Units in 2008

Private mortgage insurers were able to realize significant benefits from the reinsurance arrangements they have maintained with large mortgage bankers over the past several years, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Profitability, an affiliated newsletter.The seven private MIs continued to send a significant stream of insurance premiums... [Includes one chart and one graph] Read More

Private MIs Work Out Some of the Details to Extend Coverage for GSE Streamline Refis

Private mortgage insurers have ironed out some of the details for the unprecedented streamlined refinance program being rolled out by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac even though it requires the MIs to extend coverage in situations where they would normally raise their prices.The refinance component of the Obama administration housing rescue plan calls on the government-sponsored enterprises to refinance... Read More

Democrats on Capitol Hill Float Plan to Create New Agency for Mortgages and Other Financial Products

A handful of Senate Democrats are pushing the idea of creating a new federal agency that would have authority to regulate financial products and services offered to consumers, including mortgage loans, without specifically telling the agency how to do so. It’s not clear whether the proposed Financial Product Safety Commission would specifically take over the enforcement of existing... Read More

Florida Ranked as Most Expensive Market for Private MIs in 2008

Private mortgage insurers incurred more losses and direct premiums in Florida than any other state in 2008, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of regulatory filings. Florida ranked as only the third largest mortgage market for conventional conforming loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last year, but it posted the biggest losses for the private... [Includes two charts] Read More

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