Mortgages

Ocwen Financial Corp. this morning said it would raise $375 million of new equity and use some of the proceeds to buy $15 billion of mortgage servicing rights from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Farmer Mac lost $23 million in the third quarter due to changes in the fair market value of its financial derivatives. But the company does not include its derivative positions in what it terms its core earnings, which showed a profit of $11 million, up from $8 million for the same period in 2010.

When it comes to analyzing mortgage origination numbers, it's a matter of relativity.

The bonuses paid to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives are structured to retain managers who have the skills to run the giant mortgage companies, according to a letter Federal Housing Finance Agency acting director Edward DeMarco sent to several senators on Thursday.

Radian Guaranty's efforts to build market share seem to be paying off in a big way. The company had nearly $2.1 billion of primary mortgage insurance written during October, up from $1.2 billion written for the same month one year prior.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage during the week ending Nov. 10 came in below 4% for the second time this year, remaining near record lows.

The residential mortgage-backed securities and related collateralized debt obligation sectors lead the pack in both realized and expected future credit losses from U.S. structured finance issuances, according to Fitch Ratings. But it added commercial MBS are expected to experience losses at a lower level than many may have anticipated.

Let me throw a National Association of Realtors statistic at you—70% of all first time homebuyers rented before buying their first home. So, when you market to apartment complexes, it's like shooting fish in a barrel, right?

Mortgage Technology magazine, an Origination News affiliate, presented its 12th annual awards last month.

Wells Fargo & Co. this week launched a new unit to provide financial services to publicly traded real estate investment trusts involved in commercial properties.

A bipartisan group of senators, including Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Wednesday sponsored new legislation that would set up a covered bond framework in the U.S.

Home prices, which have fallen nearly 6% over the past four quarters (ending June 30), could fall another 3.6% by the second quarter of next year, according to analysts at Fiserv, which owns and generates the Case/Shiller house price indexes.

Foreclosure filings increased 7% in October from the prior month with servicers and banks recording default notices, scheduled auctions, and lender repossessions on 230,678 U.S. properties, according to new figures compiled by RealtyTrac.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Wednesday introduced legislation that would reduce Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's share of the mortgage market by "at least 10%" per year.

The House Financial Services Committee is slated to vote next Tuesday (Nov. 15) on a bill that would suspend the compensation packages of top Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives.

The Federal Housing Administration and Internal Revenue Service will begin allowing electronic signatures on FHA loan documents and the 4506-T form in 2012, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

TransUnion data show a trend of progressive, six-quarter improvement in the performance of borrowers 60 days or more past due reversed in the third quarter, increasing the national mortgage delinquency rate from 5.82% in the previous quarter to 5.88%.

MarketAxess, a U.S. and European fixed-income electronic trading platform, has made an initial foray into U.S. nonagency residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities markets that appears to be drawing some interest.

Ginnie Mae reported a $1.2 billion profit from its secondary market operations in fiscal year 2011 — up 84% from FY 2010 — due to lower loss provisioning.

MetLife has originated over $1.6 billion in agricultural mortgages in the first nine months of 2011. It provides mortgage loans on farms, ranches, timberland and agribusiness facilities throughout North America.