Secondary

With spring homebuying in bloom, the second quarter brought profits to independent mortgage bankers after going negative for the second time ever, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The Congressional Budget Office has found that restructuring the mortgage market would save the government billions of dollars but may increase the cost of housing.

Intensifying margin pressure could spur another wave of cost-cutting at nonbank mortgage lenders, unless other strategies, like consolidation or a mortgage servicing book that could increase in value, offset it.

A deceleration in mortgage balances ends CIBC's three-year streak of outpacing Canada's other large lenders on mortgage growth. Royal Bank of Canada said this week that mortgage balances were 5.9% higher than a year earlier.

Annaly Capital Management will be able to proceed with a delayed exchange offer needed for its acquisition of MTGE Investment Corp. because it has been able to satisfy incomplete deal conditions.

The agency said the market for larger rental investors may not need additional liquidity from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The employee who made sexual harassment allegations against the agency’s director also claims Watt withheld her pay increase after she refused his advances.

Mortgages originated to finance apartments and other income-producing properties managed to generate an overall year-to-year increase in the first half, even though there are declines in some parts of the market.

Computershare Loan Services has agreed to acquire a loan fulfillment and secondary marketing unit owned by LenderLive Holdings in order to broaden its services along the full mortgage lifecycle.

New investor appetite for mortgages over $1 million is motivating more nonbank lenders to offer super jumbo loans, often with weaker credit terms than traditional banks.