Mortgages

The top five producers had an average dollar loan volume of more than $140 million in 2023.

The threats to companies loom as borrowers face soaring homeowners insurance costs, ex-Ginnie Mae head Ted Tozer explains.

The Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Housing Finance Agency have started gathering data and analyzing how climate risk will impact the housing ecosystem.

An insurance-indexed debt-to-income ratio could help mitigate borrowers' rising premiums, and help maintain a healthy servicing portfolio, experts said.

But the number of properties whose mortgage is more than 90 days late is at its lowest since 2006, ICE Mortgage Technology said.

Industry leaders expressed a high degree of satisfaction with technology in use, but also said a product's cost is the most important criteria for them when partnering with vendors, according to Fannie Mae research.

McCargo stabilized the agency at a crucial time as she helped navigate it through both a pandemic and subsequent dramatic interest-rate cycle change.

The quasi-public entity's plan to buy certain closed-end seconds would constitute "unnecessary government encroachment," the Structured Finance Association said.

The mortgage subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings posted another quarterly loss and volume slipped, but management also sees signs of optimism.

Banks and other private lenders could help ease the liquidity crisis facing some companies that service Ginnie Mae mortgages, but are currently prevented from doing so by the agency's rules. A simple fix would benefit everyone involved.

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.

The government mortgage-bond guarantor will require additional information on foreclosure prevention actions, and retire some forbearance reporting.

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.