FHA

A booming housing market contrasts with a slow-to-improve job market, making for lopsided improvement in the number of troubled mortgages, according to numbers from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

As of the end of July, there were more than 1 million past-due mortgages not in forbearance plans, and the majority likely would have qualified for forbearance under the CARES Act.

HUD Deputy Secretary Brian Montgomery questioned "whether we could ever totally accept desktop-only appraisals" at the Mortgage Bankers Association conference this week.

Mortgage applications decreased 0.6% from one week earlier, although a slight drop in purchase volume belied the fact that consumers are taking advantage of the current rate environment, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The overall forbearance rate was under 6% for the first time since April as another large swath of loans fell out of CARES Act coverage, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

A surge of mortgage originations allowed Ginnie Mae to surpass its high watermark for mortgage-backed security issuance by nearly 33%.

Mortgage applications decreased 0.7% from one week earlier, but lending activity should continue strong for the remainder of the year as rates stay low, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The government-sponsored enterprises set a Sept. 30 deadline for sellers to accept applications for Libor adjustable-rate mortgages.

Millennials continue to lock in the lowest average mortgage rates on record, keeping lenders busy and the housing market churning, according to Ellie Mae.

The up-and-down pattern for mortgage application activity continued, as volume rose 4.6% from one week earlier led by refinancings, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.