CitiMortgage Exits Jumbo Wholesale

CitiMortgage, a top ten player in wholesale lending, will no longer fund non-agency jumbo mortgages through loan brokers, National Mortgage News has learned. A New York area broker that has used the bank for years said he received notification on Monday and a spokeswoman for Citi confirmed that "we are not currently offering jumbos through the broker channel." The bank-owned lender, however, will continue funding jumbos through its retail channel. The spokesman said CitiMortgage offers "attractively priced" jumbo mortgages to "our highly credit-worthy customers, as we anticipate holding these loans on our balance sheet." CitiMortgage is based in O'Fallon, Mo., but its parent bank is headquartered in New York, one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation, and home to many financial service executives who live in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut where home prices can easily exceed the GSE jumbo limit of $729,750. Many jumbo providers today require down payments of at least 20%. Liquidity in the market is beginning to loosen up somewhat thanks to a recent jumbo securitization done by Redwood Trust, a publicly traded REIT.