Originations

Jumbo offerings continued to tail off, offsetting a small gain in the availability of government-backed loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The gain of 3 percentage points in 2022 reinforced industry calls for the agency's mortgage insurance premium to be slashed when the current fiscal year federal budgeting process is completed.

A combination of fewer mortgage originations and investment losses for some companies contributed to declines.

The drop was led by a large decline in cash-out refinancing volume, Black Knight said.

The company's India office was not impacted by the recent layoff, sources say.

The non-qualified mortgage lender lost $13 million in the quarter, a slight improvement over the previous period.

The latest move from the lender comes after a recent purchase of a Massachusetts brokerage and the appointment of several new leaders.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is reducing the amount lenders can sell to a government-sponsored enterprise by $3 billion next year.

The company experienced further declines in production volume but reported an intra-quarter improvement in its gain on the sale of loans.

Other firms disclosing cuts in Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications include American Advisors Group and Pennymac.

An inflation metric came in lower than expected, which caused the benchmark 10-year Treasury to drop well below the 4% mark.

But its tight lead indicates that originators are struggling to differentiate themselves from the competition J.D. Power's Craig Martin said.

Former employees say the New Jersey-based lender had its biggest reduction round yet, impacting close to a thousand positions.

But executives put a sunny spin on it, saying that its recent exit from forward mortgages will allow it to leverage reverse lending, where tailwinds will lead to profitability next year, management said.

The company has incurred a combined $91.8 million in expenses in the past two quarters related to its massive cost-cutting plan, which included the layoff of thousands of professionals.

But refinances dwindled further and helped drive overall volumes to a slight decline last week.

The government-sponsored enterprise put more money aside as mortgage interest rates rise and home prices start to decline.

The six active underwriters wrote 14% less business compared with the second quarter and 30% from one year prior.

Both lenders did not disclose how many positions have been terminated.

The $1.3 trillion decline was the largest quarterly drop in dollar volume and the biggest falloff on a percentage basis since 2009, according to Black Knight.