Secondary markets

The mortgage giant’s net worth of $42 billion at the end of the quarter was more than double what it was a year earlier. CEO Hugh Frater said that financial strength puts the company on better footing to support affordable housing goals outlined by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The move by the agency, which is an arm of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, will help further efforts to give servicers more leeway to modify mortgage terms.

The combined refinance and purchase total was nearly double the average quarterly volume logged before the pandemic, the company said in its third-quarter earnings call.

Mortgage servicing rights can look more attractive to originators as they become increasingly interested in building their customer base, but some may want to sell due to thinner margins or regulatory uncertainty.

The company also locked a record $4.7 billion in jumbo loans and significantly increased its business purpose lending from a year ago as its revenue mix shifted toward its taxable subsidiary.

The increased complexity of loss mitigation in the wake of the pandemic has increasingly prompted a growing number of mid-sized players to outsource, so constraints on one player could affect others.

Several housing groups wrote a letter calling for “substantially improved written proposals” for the period starting in 2022, and support for chattel manufactured-home loans.

One winning bidder, who bought two of the four pools in the government-sponsored enterprise’s nonperforming loan offering, is a repeat buyer affiliated with a minority- and women-owned business.

The reception in the market to structured single-family CRTs' return at the government-sponsored enterprise was strong enough for it to plan to follow up this transaction with another one next month.

Gain on sale has dipped 130 basis points per loan since the third quarter last year, but over the same period, per loan expense is up by $1,216.