Origination

It will take less time than previously expected for the housing market to clear the supply of distressed homes on the market, but that so-called shadow inventory will still be around for nearly four years, Standard & Poor's Rating Services said this week.

Federal banking regulators have long kept state officials at arm's length, but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is forging a close relationship with state attorneys general to enforce consumer-banking laws.

Demand for multifamily loans is pushing the Federal Housing Administration into the big leagues with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Commercial banks funded $106 billion of retail home mortgages in 2Q, a 21% decline from the prior period, according to new figures released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Gleacher & Co., which is exiting the equities business after a strategic review, is concentrating instead on efforts that include a continuing build-out of its conforming/jumbo origination unit aimed at complementing its fixed income sales and trading platform.

The Obama administration is looking at creating a major refinancing program to help the housing market and give the economy a jolt, according to industry officials.

As the FDIC continues to investigate the failures of banks like IndyMac and WaMu mortgage brokers are coming under more scrutiny for the loans they originated for those wholesalers.

Origen Financial Inc., a Southfield, Mich.-based real estate investment trust that manages residual interests on manufactured housing loan securities, lost $3.5 million in the second quarter, a 15% improvement over the $4.1 million lost in the same period last year.

The No. 1 tool in the marketing bag of tricks is the use of incentives. Discounts, teaser rates and the like have been used very effectively in the cable television vs. telephone company wars. Now, one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders, Navy Federal Credit Union, Vienna, Va., said its application volume is up over 50% since the start of August because of its incentives.

New home sales came in at an annualized rate of 298,000 units in July, a slight decline from the prior month, and a sign that ultra low mortgage rates are still not moving sales off their Depression levels.