Servicing

Some housing numbers have been weaker than expected because affordability remains relatively low, outweighing slightly higher refinancing that has an upside for lenders but a potential downside for servicers.

At the same time, the share of overall vacancies fell due to limited inventory, according to a new Attom report.

The declines in home mortgage operations followed a profitable first quarter as originations slumped and the payments business generated less net financial income than in the previous fiscal period.

New capital standards the government bond insurer added were lower than the ones in previously proposed rules that had riled lenders and servicers.

The latest increase suggests the housing finance industry is half done with its transition from extraordinary pandemic relief back to more normal loan performance.

The move will reduce the excess capacity in the field but the effects on servicing are likely to dampen the Federal Housing Administration market, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said.

Insurers and Uncle Sam are having trouble footing bills for mounting climate-related risks, particularly in regions prone to hurricanes and wildfires.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency wants to change some of the government-sponsored enterprises' targets in ways that could create more low-income rental units as higher costs squeeze tenants.

Pandemic-related payment suspensions dropped notably for loans held in bank portfolios and private-label securities, but numbers for large government-related markets leveled off, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Payment for the whole loan and servicing-rights trading platform will be a mix of cash and stock, with the price and closing of the deal subject to certain contingencies.