Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
Driven by competitive market pressures, average guarantee fees charged by the government-sponsored enterprises for residential loans rose last year.
During 2016, average g-fees on single-family loans that were acquired or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac worked out to 57 basis points.
That turned out to be a 2-basis-point improvement for all of the GSE’s loan products when compared to the average for the preceding year.
From:: Financing
There was an up tick last month in the rate of serious mortgage delinquency. Recent natural disasters could push the rate ever higher over the next few months.
As of Sept. 30, ninety-day delinquency on consumer credit — including auto loans, bank cards and mortgages — worked out to 0.88 percent based on the Composite Consumer Credit Default Index.
Consumer credit delinquency worsened by 2 basis points compared to the previous month. A 4-basis-point increase was recorded versus the rate as of the same month last year.
From:: Financing
After plunging last month, the level of confidence among the country’s residential home builders this month more than made up the ground it lost.
During September, the Housing Market Index — a gauge of single-family builders’ perception of the market for new homes — tumbled three points.
At issue last month were the recent hurricanes, which raised concerns among home builders about the availability of labor and the cost of building materials.
From:: Financing
A fast-growing company that claims to be the biggest marketplace lender in the mortgage space has announced plans to acquire more than $1 billion in bridge loans.
LendingHome said Tuesday that it closed on the LendingHome Opportunity Fund II with $100 million in commitments from 40 investors. It will be managed by LH Capital Management.
The San Francisco-based firm — which says it is the largest, fastest-growing mortgage marketplace lender — noted that with its $300 million credit facility, total potential assets are $400 million.
From:: Financing
A number of mortgage-related conferences and events are on the calendar for the rest of this year — including several that take place next month. Some events address secondary marketing issues.
On Nov. 1, the Urban Institute and CoreLogic Inc. are hosting the Housing Finance, Affordability, and Supply in the Digital Age. It’s the fifth annual such housing symposium.
This free symposium will explore housing policy changes, the economic outlook for the housing market and market opportunities for reaching emerging markets. Also to be covered are affordability challenges in the residential housing supply and the impact of technology and digital advances on housing finance.
From:: Financing
Two agencies of the federal government have combined forces to deal with excessive churning of mortgages that are guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Late last year, the Government National Mortgage Association changed its program rules to address rapid refinance and loan churning on VA mortgages.
But the issue remains a problem for Ginnie Mae and has caught the attention of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), who sent a letter last month to Ginnie about the problem.
From:: Financing
A 116-year-old Kansas bank that survived two world wars and the Great Depression was the first federally insured bank to fail in the last five months.
The Office of the State Bank Commissioner of Kansas on Friday seized control of The Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Argonia and shut it down.
Based in Argonia, Kansas, the financial institution was originally established in 1901. As of its demise, there were just 16 employees on the payroll.
From:: Financing
Single-family lending activity was stronger than a year ago at First Republic Bank. The residential servicing and asset portfolios both continued to expand.
The San Francisco-based organization said in its third-quarter 2017 earnings report that income before the provision for income taxes was $242 million in the three months ended Sept. 30.
That was a solid improvement over the same quarterly period last year, when First Republic earned $202 million. Earnings also ascended from $220 billion in the prior quarter.
From:: Financing
As new mortgage activity softened during the holiday week, weekly purchase-money business sank to the lowest level since January. Government share has significantly widened over the past year.
An indication of upcoming loan closings, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortgage Daily, was 128 in the seven days that included Columbus Day and concluded on Oct. 13.
A 16 percent decline was recorded versus the for the index, which is determined based on average per-user rate-lock volume at OpenClose. No seasonal adjustments were made.
From:: Financing
Changes being made by Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. will result in improved prices on mortgage insurance premiums for some borrowers.
On residential loans that are in excess of $450,000, Milwaukee-based MGIC is eliminating the loan amount premium adjustment.
In addition, the mortgage insurance company is also doing away with the loan amount premium adjustment on mortgages that exceed $650,000.
From:: Financing