Mortgages

Just because the Fed is staying put doesn’t mean that mortgage rates, and prices of MBS, are staying put as well, writes Vice Capital Markets Principal Chris Bennett.

Moratorium extensions helped drive a weekly increase in forbearances, according to Black Knight.

“Sales could be even higher,” if more homes were put on the market, NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yun said

With historic barriers of systemic discrimination, predatory lending and wealth inequities to overcome, change will take time, but leaders from National Association of Real Estate Brokers and other groups propose lenders take these steps now.

Today, the mortgage players who most actively hedged — Fannie and Freddie, real estate investment trusts and large bank servicers — have significantly reduced their need to to do so, analysts said.

The newly public digital mortgage giant is relying on a diverse set of loan channels to take on competitors in an increasingly crowded field, CEO Anthony Hsieh said in an earnings call this week.

With the most recent stimulus aiding economic recovery, mortgage lending’s feeding frenzy could be coming to an end.

Acquiring AmeriHome would provide the fee revenue the Phoenix company seeks to compensate for low interest rates and tepid commercial loan demand. The deal also would allow it to reinvest billions of dollars of excess liquidity.

While sales shot up from the same time last year, inventory reached its lowest level since Remax started its National Housing Report in 2007.

Origination volume hit a record high in 2020 as more borrowers tapped the equity in their homes and investors and second-home purchasers flocked to the market at levels unseen since before the Great Recession.

The shrinking ranks of appraisers, combined with the record number of loan applications in 2020, created "the perfect storm between supply and demand," which inspired the new payment plan, Incenter's Mark Walser said.

Between the dip in refis and the approach of the spring buying season, mortgage lenders are likely to start paying a little more attention to the purchase market, which is less rate-sensitive.

The Arizona company will pay $1 billion for the parent of AmeriHome Mortgage, which manages a $99 billion mortgage servicing portfolio.

But distress could be compounded in a limited number of state and local areas that have been left out of the broader boom in the market, an Urban Institute report found.

While the Mortgage Bankers Association hailed the move, some experts say it could negatively impact housing inventory.

Both in terms of interest expense and the sheer cost of dealing with consumers, the mortgage industry is out hundreds of millions of dollars due to this unfunded mandate from Congress, analyst Chris Whalen says.

With pandemic conditions in place for a second spring, lenders and brokers discuss the indicators that will reveal whether the market is shifting away from the traditional selling season to one that runs hot throughout the year.

Like so many other businesses, Credit Karma was not spared by the pandemic and its rippling effects on the economy. Their business was prone to the same macro conditions, particularly the tightening of lending standards and credit limits. Join Paul Centopani, National Mortgage News' reporter and Andy Taylor, Credit Karma's General Manager of Home & Mortgage as they discuss how FinTechs can pivot to adapt to the new normal.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's recent allowance of a 3-month extension of CARES Act forbearances stands to upend the trend in plan exits.

While its net income declined annually for the second consecutive year, CEO Hugh Frater touted Fannie Mae’s resiliency in a record year for providing mortgage liquidity.