Mortgages

Altisource Portfolio Solutions’ bottom line took a larger hit in the first quarter compared to Q4 2020, causing the company to cut costs.

While the first quarter is typically the weakest period for the title business, the sector benefited from strong refinance volumes that were driven by low interest rates.

The company is formally launching a new “non-mortgage” unit that will provide small loans for home improvement projects.

While the product was hard to find after the start of the pandemic, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent changes to Appendix Q are giving a pair of large wholesalers the chance to offer it as a qualified mortgage.

In spite of an improving economy, acute competition and supply scarcity soured homeshoppers on the purchase market in April, according to Fannie Mae.

The company is shifting some of its conforming-focused call center resources not just into the growing non-QM channel but to Veterans Affairs products as well.

Less than two years after shutting down its biggest business amid fraud allegations, the Michigan company has sold branches, settled a shareholder lawsuit and returned to profitability under turnaround specialist Thomas O’Brien.

Fannie and Freddie's regulator says the companies must comply with the new Qualified Mortgage standard by the summer, while the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has extended the deadline to 2022. The conflicting timetables have stoked uncertainty in the market.

The relatively small addition of 266,000 positions to the broader market in April suggests that income uncertainty, which could impact some borrowers’ ability to qualify for or pay loans, could become a concern among lenders and brokers.

The real estate investment trust has been buying residential business-purpose loans from the company since 2017.

Promising jobs numbers and favorable economic data are an encouraging sign for the post-pandemic future, but rising interest rates are sure to follow.

The agreement, which is extended for five years, also expands upon the delinquent mortgages services Altisource will provide to Ocwen.

The company, like many publicly-traded nonbanks, is looking for ways to address the downward pressure that a battle between two large competitors is putting on the wholesale channel’s profitability.

The company touted its investments in the wholesale channel while also reporting a slight quarterly drop in overall originations and gains on sale during an earnings call this week.

Fluctuating rules are redirecting some government-related loans to a disparate private market.

The nation’s largest mortgage lender plans to use a new partnership with the financial technology company AutoFi to sell more cars to its home loan customers.

While cash-out refinances were a “significant driver” of risky loans leading to the Great Recession, those mortgages pose less of a threat due to tighter underwriting standards, according to Milliman.

Also, per-loan compensation keeps dropping due to the persistence of refinancing in the mix but it could rise as the purchase share of the market increases.

Rents are soaring in many U.S. cities as the economy rebounds, squeezing the budgets of tenants who also face increased risk of eviction after courts overturned a pandemic-era ban from the Center for Disease Control.

The recent increase in loan size across all application types reflects rising prices, which contributed to a drop in applications, Mortgage Bankers Association economist Joel Kan said.