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Inside Mortgage Finance

September 7, 2017

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Purchase-Mortgage Lending Soared to Record Volume in 2Q17, But May Be Slowing Down

Mortgage lenders harvested a landmark crop of purchase-money mortgages during the second quarter, fueled partly by continuing growth in the first-time buyer segment, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. An estimated $307.0 billion of purchase loans were originated in the second quarter, up a stunning 49.8 percent from the first three months of the year. That was the highest quarterly volume for purchase-mortgage lending since the third quarter of 2006. Purchase loans accounted for 67.5 percent of the estimated $455.0 billion in first-lien mortgage originations during the April-June cycle, the highest such share since at least 2003. First-time buyers contributed...[Includes three data tables] Read More

Warehouse Commitments Top $64 Billion at June 30. Sector Remains Healthy but Concerns over Hurricanes and M&A

Warehouse providers of credit ended the second quarter of 2017 with $64.0 billion of commitments on their books, a modest 8.5 percent sequential gain, reflecting a strong – but not an overheated – origination market for nonbank originators. Compared to the same quarter a year ago, commitments increased 12.3 percent. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance this week, credit managers are...[Includes one data table] Read More

Revived Momentum in First-Time Homebuyers To Define Today’s Sales Volume, House Prices

During the second quarter, the housing market witnessed the largest number of first-timers buying homes in almost two decades and that’s helping to drive price appreciation through 2018, according to a new study by Genworth Financial. Second-quarter numbers show that FTHBs accounted for 570,000 single-family home purchases, compared to 424,000 in the previous period. Genworth said this marks the highest quarterly number since 1999 and is the continuation of a trend that began in the third quarter of 2013. That number accounts... Read More

Slight Uptick in Delinquencies in 2Q17; Seasoned Home Loans Account for Bulk of Late Payments

The delinquency rate on residential mortgages increased slightly in the second quarter, suggesting that years of improvements could be leveling off. The mortgage delinquency rate increased from 4.32 percent at the end of March to 4.39 percent at June 30, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Large Servicer Delinquency Index. The delinquency rate reading remained below the 4.99 percent level seen at the midway point in 2016. “Market normalization has slowed...[Includes one data table] Read More

PHH Corp., Realogy, Others Agree to $17 Million Settlement to Resolve RESPA Class Action Litigation

PHH Corp. and Realogy Holdings Corp. and some of their subsidiaries and affiliates recently agreed to a $17 million settlement to bring to an end a putative class-action lawsuit over allegedly deceptive and collusive practices in violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. At issue were allegations of arranging kickbacks for unlawful referrals of title services. The plaintiffs in the case alleged... Read More

NCUA, Credit Union Trade Group and Navy Federal All on Board with CU Ownership of MSR Assets

Although the National Credit Union Administration and a top CU trade group favor allowing credit unions to buy mortgage servicing rights in the secondary market, don’t look for these “nonprofit” depositories to become significant players anytime soon. At least that’s the opinion of a handful of investment bankers and others who ply their trade in the MSR market. For starters, CUs are not... Read More

Some Banks Expected to Benefit From Proposed Delay In Tougher Capital Rule for Mortgage Servicing Assets

A proposal by federal regulators to delay tougher capital requirements for mortgage servicing assets will have a “marginally positive impact” on banks subject to the proposal, according to banking regulators. Near the end of August, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a proposed rule that would extend the current treatment on mortgage servicing rights and related assets, delaying tougher standards established by Basel III. The proposal would apply to banks that aren’t subject to the “advanced approaches” capital rules – generally banks with less than $250 billion in total assets. “For small banking organizations that have significant amounts of MSAs ... the proposal could... Read More

Ninth Circuit Upholds GSE Security Interest, Rules Federal Foreclosure Bar Preempts State HOA Law

Lenders and servicers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages notched a big win in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which found that a federal bar on foreclosure on government-sponsored enterprise loans preempted Nevada’s superiority lien law. As a published decision, the court’s ruling in Berezovsky v. Moniz resolves the dispute in favor of the federal foreclosure bar, according to Marc James Ayers and R. Aaron Chastain, attorneys with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings. It serves as a binding precedent in the Ninth Circuit and should guide other circuits in deciding cases involving homeowners associations’ super-priority liens, they said. In Berezovsky, the panel affirmed... Read More

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