Secondary markets

Mortgage loan application volume increased by an astounding 23.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Jan. 13, as interest rates on three varieties of fixed-rate loans hit all-time lows, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The results for the current survey include an adjustment to account for the New Year's Day holiday.

Freddie Mac hopes to issue more Mortgage Linked Amortizing Notes similar to the one it priced late last week.

Citigroup repurchased 6,800 residential loans in 2011, an 80% jump from 2010 with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accounting for the lion's share of those buybacks, according to figures released Tuesday.

Among the ramifications of paying for the tax cut extension by hiking agency guarantee fees in April could be upward pressure on consumer rates and an improvement in mortgage-backed securities prepayments.

Some banks might be skittish about selling nonperforming loans in bulk, but the market clearly likes it when banks shed problems en masse.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners' capital designation prices for year-end 2011 show a modest average decline that should have a limited but nuanced effect on the securitized non-agency market, a Barclays report suggests.

Radian Guaranty has received waivers of the risk-to-capital ratio in four states of the 16 states it applied to, and has been rejected by two, the company said.

Fannie Mae is forecasting an additional $200-$300 billion in refinancings this year from the HARP program, but that won't be enough to offset what should be a tepid $1 trillion year in originations.

Who says retail lending is more expensive than wholesale production? Well, actually, JPMorgan Chase does. In its new earnings statement JPM notes that it spent an additional $82 million in 4Q (compared to 3Q) due to higher residential production costs: increased retail expenses and "enhanced" loan underwriting. JPM has been out of wholesale for two years now.

Goldman Sachs this week asked a federal court in Los Angeles to dismiss a billion-dollar private label MBS related lawsuit brought against the firm by the National Credit Union Administration.

Although insurance conglomerate MetLife failed to unload its residential mortgage banking business, it is moving forward with a plan to sell its profitable warehouse lending division, according to industry officials briefed on the matter.

Freddie Mac Thursday said it plans to issue a Mortgage-Linked Amortizing Notes security.

Redwood Trust is readying a $415 million jumbo MBS deal backed predominately by loans sold to the REIT by First Republic Bank and PHH Mortgage, according to a presale report on the deal prepared by Fitch Ratings.

Tree.com has obtained a $100 million warehouse line of credit from Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Capital LLC, the second $100 million line the company has obtained in the past 90 days, said its chairman and chief executive Doug Lebda.

As Wells Fargo goes, so goes the mortgage industry. Well, not exactly, but it needs to be pointed out once in a while just how much of a dominant player this megabank is in mortgage finance. In the third quarter it ranked first among all lenders, which is no secret, but in the correspondent channel it bought $41.1 billion of loans from other firms - almost triple its next closest competitor, Bank of America.

Capital Markets Cooperative, a secondary market specialist, is continuing to look at possible acquisitions, but is in no rush to sign on the dotted line.

To date, the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks have recognized more than $4.4 billion of losses on their investments in private-label mortgage-backed securities, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

MetLife is continuing to stonewall on the future of its $1 billion warehouse lending business, leading to speculation in the market that the insurance company may wind up keeping the business after all.

Stonegate Mortgage Corp. has hired former Irwin Mortgage Corp. executive John F. Macke as EVP of capital markets in line with growth plans that include the introduction of nonagency jumbos this year.

Banks and thrifts that play in the warehouse lending space had $29.8 billion of commitments on their books at the end of September, a 26% decline from the same period a year ago, according to new survey figures compiled by National Mortgage News.