Jumbos Not Priced for Secondary Sales

Recently, National Mortgage News reported that although jumbo loan production is on the rise (refinancings mostly), the lenders funding these products aren't selling them into the secondary market. One analyst told us this morning that banks originating jumbos "are pricing them for portfolio execution," which means the start rates on the loans are at 5% or lower. Also, many of the mortgages being funded today are interest-only loans. "Banks are seeing their loan portfolios run off dramatically," he said. "C&I [commercial and industrial] loans and everything else is running off. The one area of growth is residential." Meanwhile, we continue to hear more rumors about the Obama Administration's plan to aid the housing and mortgage markets — and it's a wild and wacky idea that I will discuss more in my weekend column…