Servicing

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has reached a settlement with Bank of America that releases the company from liability for failing to adequately provide alternatives to foreclosure on 57,000 delinquent government-insured mortgages.

With the Dow Jones in a steep selloff Thursday afternoon, mortgage insurance stocks took it on the chin, reacting to poor earnings from MI giant The PMI Group.

A Fitch report suggests the securities market needs to be aware of how pending U.S. risk retention regulations compare to European Union laws and how they are expected to affect the behavior of issuers and investors.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust reported record earnings of $16.6 million in the second quarter, and told investors that its correspondent mortgage purchases doubled in the second quarter to just over $50 million.

One interesting instrument that has been used to take the pulse of the nonagency securitized residential mortgage market has been the U.S. subprime credit default swap index, and recently Fitch Solutions' dropped modestly and reversed its direction, ending what previously had been an unprecedented rally. This trend has looked likely to continue, although it could be short term.

Thanks to an ailing U.S. economy and trouble in overseas markets, rates offered on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to a new yearly low this week, 4.39%, according to figures compiled by Freddie Mac.

Despite a quarter-over-quarter gain of 4.1%, national home prices are still down over the entire year, according to the Clear Capital Home Data Index Market Report.

PMI Group, Walnut Creek, Calif., lost $135 million in the second quarter, but it could have been worse if the company was not able to record a $151 million gain on sale (net of tax) as it was finally able to recognize the note associated with the sale of its Australian mortgage insurance operations.

Commercial mortgage lenders more than doubled their originations in the second quarter compared to 2Q 2010 with all property types – especially multifamily – contributing to the gains.

First Tennessee Bank, Memphis, ended June with $1.9 billion of warehouse commitments on its books, just about flat compared to the same period a year ago.