Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
By jgaffney@housingwire.com Under current agreements, the net worth of the two GSEs is expected to reach zero in 2018. With the clock ticking on potential solutions, the Congressional Budget Office crunched some numbers. Here is what they found. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Freddie Mac continues to believe that mortgage lending is on track for a big year this year, but now expects the market to tap the brakes in 2017. But it won’t be purchase mortgage originations that will drag down 2017’s origination total, as purchase and home improvement mortgage activity is actually expected to rise next year. According to the Freddie Mac report, next year’s drop will be driven by a significant decline in refinances. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Shares of First NBC Bank Holding Co. took a 15% dive in afternoon trade Thursday, after the New Orleans-based bank disclosed in a filing that regulators deemed it to be in a “troubled condition.” The stock had plunged as much as 20% intraday before paring some losses. The bank said it was informed of the “troubled condition” designation on Oct. 11, in writing by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions. The designation means First NBC will have to seek approval before adding any new directors or senior executives or changing the responsibilities of any current senior executive, and that the bank can’t make severance payments to affiliated parties without prior approval. The bank is also bound from increasing its debt, distributing interest on subordinated debt or paying dividends on its stock. The stock has now plummeted 75% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF has gained 2.9% and the S&P 500 has tacked on 4.7%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Oil futures finished lower on Thursday, easing back after hitting a 15-month high a day earlier as the November West Texas Intermediate crude futures contracts expired at the session’s end. November WTI crude fell $1.17, or 2.3%, to settle at $50.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had settled Wednesday at their highest level since mid-July 2015. December WTI crude , which is now the front-month contract, settled at $50.63, down $1.19, or 2.3%.
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From:: Stock Market News
FMC Technologies Inc. agreed Thursday to pay a $2.5 million penalty to settle charges by the Security and Exchange Commission that it overstated profits in one of its businesses so it could meet internal financial targets. The SEC said that Jeffrey Favret, controller of the technology solutions company’s energy infrastructure unit, and a business unit controller Steven Croft, artificially reduced the value of a liability for employee time off, after being pressured to improve the financial performance of that business. That overstated profits by $800,000, which helped the business meet the internal target for the first quarter of 2013. “Companies must accurately report their financial performance without regard to internal targets,” said Deputy Director Stephanie Avakian of the SEC’s division of enforcement. “Favret and Croft manipulated results to create the impression that the business was performing better than reality.” As part of the settlement, Favret and Croft consented without admitting or denying the findings. In addition to the penalty paid, Favret will pay $30,000 and Croft will pay $10,000. The stock, which surged 5% in afternoon trade, has rallied 14% year to date while the S&P 500 has gained 4.8%.
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From:: Stock Market News
Bids are now being accepted for mortgage servicing rights on as much as $3 billion in home loans that are backed by the housing finance agencies.
The offering includes a bulk MSR purchase on 2,989 mortgages that had an aggregate principal balance of $628 million as of the end of last month.
Fannie Mae loans account for 2,711 units with a collective balance of $557 million, while there are 278 Freddie Mac loans totaling $71 million.
From:: Financing
Trulia’s new study shows that despite rising home prices, it is still cheaper to buy a home than to rent. While there’s talk about a rate hike this year, Trulia explains why potential homebuyers shouldn’t be concerned. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
The estimate of last year’s volume of loans to finance home purchases has been raised by more than $50 billion, though it came at the expense of refinances.
For just the fourth quarter 2016, residential loan originations — including refinances and purchase-money lending — is expected to amount to $485 billion.
Production is then expected to fall to $340 billion in the first-three months of next year. But second-quarter 2017 volume is expected to reach $460 billion.
From:: Financing
Fifth Third Bancorp’s quarterly residential loan production and mortgage assets increased. But mortgage revenues and servicing both declined.
Income before income taxes at the financial institution came in at $694 million during the period that began on July 1 and concluded on Sept. 30.
The Cincinnati-based company revealed the results, along with other operational and financial metrics, in its third-quarter 2016 earnings report.
From:: Financing
The World Bank raised its 2017 forecast for crude-oil prices to $55 a barrel from a previous forecast of $53 a barrel, according to a quarterly report issued Thursday. It attributed the higher price forecast to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’s preparations to limit production. “We expect a solid rise in energy prices, led by oil, next year,” said John Baffes, senior economist at the World Bank. Still, he noted that there is “considerable uncertainty around the [oil] outlook as we await the details and the implementation of the OPEC agreement.” The World Bank left its oil-price forecast for this year unchanged at $43. The forecast is an average of Brent , West Texas Intermediate and Dubai crudes.
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From:: Stock Market News