National Mortgage News and its affiliate, the Quarterly Data Report, are done compiling fourth-quarter and full-year production volumes -- and as many anticipated, 2003 was indeed a record-breaking, barn-burner year. Just how robust was it? Try $3.917 trillion. But what's interesting about the numbers is that in the fourth quarter "A" paper production swooned -- but subprime volumes did not. In 4Q, lenders funded $682 billion in loans, a 43% decline from 3Q, but subprime originators funded $113 billion in the fourth quarter, a slight gain from the third quarter, which explains why many subprime executives we've talked to are bullish about the new year. See Monday's issue of NMN for full details...
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A lot of lenders saw their loan production volumes head south in the fourth quarter, which is no surprise. But McAfee Mortgage & Investment of Lubbock, Texas, funded $207 million in home mortgages during the quarter, a 39% gain from the same quarter in 2002. McAfee is now managed by Larry Charbonneau, formerly of Charbonneau & Klein, Houston, a mortgage advisory firm...
Which mortgage servicer has the lowest delinquency rate in the U.S.? That would be First Republic Bank of San Francisco -- 0.01% according to the QDR. Also, First Republic has the highest average loan size in the nation, which isn't surprising given that San Francisco is one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation...
Washington Mutual, which has been shedding mortgage jobs left and right, last week, said it will add 250 financial center stores (branches) to its nationwide network of 1,800 in 2004. That translates into roughly 1,500 new jobs. WaMu also is advertising its ability to make super jumbo loans in The Wall Street Journa l. The thrift says it is willing to fund loans as high as $2.5 million...
Fannie Mae bought just $268 million (that's right million) in MBS in January. The last time the mortgage giant bought such a small amount of MBS, the Mets were the world champions and the Berlin Wall was still standing. Not quite, but you get the picture. Does Fannie's anorexic appetite for MBS mean anything? In a research report, Sandler O'Neill notes, "Fannie Mae will not bid aggressively for mortgages, just for growth. At a minimum, Fannie Mae's bids reflect the company's undisclosed required hurdle rate. Fannie Mae is not willing to accept below-hurdle-rate returns because the company is a long-term investor and match-funds its portfolio. Bidding aggressively for mortgages that lock in low returns is not part of the company's strategy."...
On Tuesday, the biggest decliner on the NYSE was Stewart Information Services. Shares of the info/title company retreated after the company reported a fourth-quarter revenue gain of 12% but earnings that slid 53%. It also cited a 29% drop in incoming orders. Stewart's stock lost more than 15% of its value...
INSIDER BUYS/SELLS: This past week Ronald E. Hermance, president and chief executive of Hudson City Bancorp of New Jersey, bought 14,825 shares of his thrift. Hudson City's stock price has been on a tear this past year. Meanwhile, NovaStar Financial president Lance Anderson sold $5 million of stock on Monday...
WASHINGTON NEWS: On Tuesday of this coming week, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is set to addresses the Senate Banking Committee on the role of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHLB system in the U.S. economy. Recently, Mr. Greenspan applauded an analysis by a Fed economist that said the GSEs provide scant savings for homebuyers. Fannie and Freddie have said the Fed analysis is all wet. The day after the Fed chairman testifies, the top dogs at Fannie and Freddie will have their turn. Also scheduled to testify is Norman Rice, president and chief executive of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle . This weekend, Fannie and Freddie are set to a host a "policy briefing" for congressional aides at an exclusive ski resort in Salt Lake City. According to a recent report by Dow Jones, "Those who have attended in previous years say that there is little work done" at the policy briefing and that generally the briefings last for just 30 minutes, that is, before the ski lifts open at 9 a.m. Dow reported about the ski party, I mean, policy briefing, several weeks ago. Since the Dow report, not a whole lot of staffers have signed up for the trip, sources told us. I wonder why? (Point of disclosure: the press wasn't invited.)
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: KB Home Mortgage has named Richard Powers president. In his most recent position he worked for Charter One Mortgage Corp., Cleveland. He also did time at Great Western Mortgage . LoanToolbox of California has hired Greg Frost as vice president of new product development.
MORTGAGE DATA NOTICE: All of the fourth-quarter results we talked about at the beginning of this report are available in the brand new 4Q edition of the Quarterly Data Report. The QDR ranks the top 100 in many different mortgage sectors. For information contact Deartra Todd at Deartra.Todd@ThomsonMedia.com. Also, National Mortgage News has published the "Transactional Retail Mortgage Website Report." The TRMWR provides detailed information on how lenders can integrate their websites with LOS and back-office systems. It also provides information on what features are offered on "best-of-breed mortgage" websites -- and much, much more. For more information or a sample of this report contact: Elizabeth.Washington
@ThomsonMedia.com or call (202) 434-0328.
