Servicing

Refinancings of single-family loans and demand for rental apartments picked up in September and early October, according to the Federal Reserve Board's periodic survey of economic conditions released Wednesday afternoon.

U.S. Bancorp, Minneapolis, reported record mortgage production of $16.6 billion for the third quarter, which contributed to a 12.3% increase in its mortgage banking revenue over the previous year.

The Cook County's Sheriff's office — the second largest sheriff's department in the U.S. — said it will not carry out any foreclosure evictions filed by Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and GMAC/Ally Financial, until these servicers can "provide complete assurance that the foreclosure was done properly and legally."

Among more immediate implications of widely publicized foreclosure procedure concerns for some existing residential mortgage-backed securities at press time last week was the indemnity question, although there are several other developments to monitor.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development started a review of several FHA mortgage servicers during the summer, discovering what it calls "significant differences" in the way they handle defaulted borrowers in the loss mitigation process.

The much-heralded echo-boom generation—better known as Generation Y—has inherited their parents’ dream of homeownership, according to the early readings of a survey to be published late this year by the Urban Land Institute. But they might not want to live where you think.

The nation’s foreclosure crisis has resulted in loan closings being scuttled in some regions of the nation and fears are mounting that if the situation isn’t rectified soon it will damage the one area where lenders are posting stellar profits: new originations.

Mortgage application volume fell 10.5% last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, as interest rates for fixed-rate loans increased for the first time in six weeks, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

One REO asset management firm has a dramatically different take than most on the foreclosure moratorium issue.

Wells Fargo & Co. — which is experiencing near-record mortgage application volume — said the "potential is very high" for the current refinancing boom to last well into next year.