Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
After ascending to the highest level in nearly a dozen years, home builder confidence settled back this month.
In April, the Housing Market Index was determined to be 68. Anything above 50 indicates more builders view conditions as good.
The index, which is based on a survey of home builders, fell from 71 the prior month, the highest it had been since June 2005.
Also falling three points to 75 was the component indicating expected sales for the next six months.
From:: Financing
While there was a modest retreat in the volume of overall new weekly mortgage activity, an increase was recorded for jumbo and adjustable-rate mortgage business.
An indication of upcoming originations, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortgage Daily and OpenClose, slipped 6 percent in the week ended April 14.
The index, which reflects average rate-lock volume by OpenClose users, fell 16 percent from the same week last year. There are no seasonal adjustments made to the MMI.
From:: Financing
The Department of Veterans Affairs is considering making changes to its fee limitations so that veterans can be more competitive in bids for homes.
VA’s Loan Guaranty Service is reviewing its regulations governing the allowable expenses that a veteran can pay or be charged in connection with obtaining a VA-guaranteed mortgage.
Allowable fees were first outlined in a rule published in 1948, which allowed customary fees, except some brokerage and service charges, to be paid from loan proceeds.
From:: Financing
A pair of offerings have mortgage servicing rights up for auction on nearly $1 billion in agency loans with a concentration in New York and California.
The first offering is for MSRs on 2,440 Government National Mortgage Association loans with an aggregate principal balance of $432 million as of Jan. 31.
On a weighted-average basis, the FICO score is 690, the original loan-to-value ratio is 98 percent, and the combined LTV ratio is 95 percent.
From:: Financing
Refinances of mortgages backed by the government-sponsored enterprises plummeted to the lowest level during the past 12 months.
For the entire month of February 2017, there were 157,921 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac residential loans that were refinanced.
That turned out to be the lowest volume for GSE refinances since February of last year, when production came to a downwardly revised 130,075.
From:: Financing
Like it’s peers, First Republic Bank had a quarter-over-quarter drop in mortgage production. But its year-over-year gain outpaced all of its competitors.
Income before the provision for income taxes worked out to $214 million during the period that started on Jan. 1, 2017, and finished on March 31.
The results, in addition to other financial and operational metrics, were presented in the San Francisco-based company’s first-quarter 2017 earnings report.
From:: Financing
An investment banking firm has won its bid to acquire more than $1.6 billion in reperforming government-sponsored enterprise mortgages.
Approximately 6,500 residential loans with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $1.62 billion were originally marketed for sale last month.
While the mortgages had been previously delinquent, payments have since been brought current without the use of any loan modifications.
From:: Financing
Interest rates on residential loans fell to a new low for this year, and it’s quite possible they could be much lower in next week’s report.
Freddie Mac reported that 30-year fixed rates averaged 4.08 percent in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended April 13.
That turned out to be the lowest weekly average since the week ended Dec. 1, 2016, when the 30 year also averaged 4.08 percent.
From:: Financing
Mortgage originations fell by nearly a third from the prior quarter at >Citigroup Inc., while the servicing portfolio plunged by 60 percent.
The financial services conglomerate earned $6.0 billion from continuing operations before taxes during the first-three months of this year.
New York-based Citi delivered the data, along with other operational and financial metrics, in its first-quarter 2017 earnings report.
From:: Financing
Changes proposed for Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting are intended to help financial institutions comply with a rule finalized two years ago.
The HMDA regulation was updated in 2015 in order to comply with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.
Requirements of the final rule, which mostly take effect in January 2018, are designed to improve the quality and type of data that is reported by home lenders.
From:: Financing