Origination

Despite a 3% increase in new mortgages, overall applications dropped 2% on a consecutive-week basis due to a 5% decline in refis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Volumes were at a record high in the final quarter of 2020 but lenders didn’t make quite as much since gains on loan sales to the secondary market fell.

The $10 million program appears to be the first of its kind in the nation.

The San Diego-based company produced $10.6 billion in the fourth quarter, and has done $6.1 billion in the first two months of 2021.

Sales in February rose 22.8 percent from the same month in 2020. A total of 1,062 homes changed hands last month compared with 865 the previous February, according to a Maine Listings report released Monday.

Purchases of new single-family homes decreased 18.2% to a 775,000 annualized pace from an upwardly revised 948,000 rate in the prior month, government data showed Tuesday.

A PIMCO-sponsored HELOC securitzation, as well as a mortgage-insurance linked transaction, are the latest examples of issuers getting a head start on switching to an expected replacement benchmark for Libor.

These trends, in addition to the increase in appraisal contingency waivers, could add risk to mortgage lender businesses.

Contract closings decreased 6.6% from the prior month to an annualized 6.22 million from a downwardly revised 6.66 million in January, according to National Association of Realtors data released Monday.

From offering operations folks big bonuses to grooming recent grads, lenders are getting creative in their efforts to manage staffing throughout the boom-bust cycle.