Origination

In a Senate hearing, Director Sandra Thompson said a raise to the required income threshold provided to affordable housing was on the table, while housing regulators also faced questions related to property insurance hikes and title insurance waivers.

The nonpayment rate for non-qualified mortgages is up 21 basis points from February and 134 basis points from March 2023, Morningstar DBRS said.

But views are split, at least in the near-term on whether rising mortgage rates are holding back the Spring home purchase season.

Contract closings decreased 4.3% from a month earlier to a 4.19 million annualized rate, according to National Association of Realtors data released Thursday.

The top five producers had an average dollar volume of FHA loans of more than $50 million in 2023.

Ohio-based Liberty Home Mortgage joins several companies who started using a more modernized FICO credit score for nonconforming mortgage originations recently.

The plan that the Federal Housing Finance Agency floated calls for Freddie Mac to actively invest in some new closed-end seconds as cash-out refinancing subsides.

The push comes amid what one expert highlighted as lax funding efforts for two Department of Housing and Urban Development grant programs.

Conventional lending drove volumes higher, particularly in the purchase market, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Net charge-offs at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank increased by more than 80% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. BofA executives say that the rising losses were in line with the bank's risk appetite.