The Lede

Black Knight Financial Services, Jacksonville, Fla., said cash sales of homes have declined over the past several years as distressed properties worked their way out of the pipeline.

Levels of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt have been growing more slowly than property prices in recent years, realigning debt and equity since prices fell during and after the Great Recession.

The commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquency rate inched up again in May, but the bigger problem lies elsewhere, said Brian Olasov, Executive Director with Carlton Fields, New York.

There's a saying in sports: "Go big or go home," and it also applies to fees and changes in circumstances with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule.

Despite remaining more than 26 percent off its 2006 peak, RealtyTrac, Irvine Calif., said house flipping jumped by more than 20 percent in the first quarter to its highest rate in more than two years, with the average gross flipping profit at a 10-year high.

Sometimes, the distance between a rebounding housing market and one still struggling to recover is only a matter of miles.

National Mortgage News, May 31, 2016--Collins, Brian The Federal Housing Finance Agency is set to make the sales of nonperforming loans by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac more transparent, including providing information on trends at the individual pool level.

Bloomberg, June 6, 2016--Evans, Rachel Three U.S. banks plan to sell the first commercial mortgage bonds to comply with new rules designed to make securitization markets safer for investors.

HousingWire, June 6, 2016--Lane, Ben Fannie Mae said Monday that is plans to release a massive collection of data on previously modified loans in its portfolio as part of plan to being securitizing re-performing loans later this year.

National Mortgage News, June 6, 2016--Kilgore, Austin The Charlotte, N.C., bank signed an agreement with the Jacksonville, Fla., mortgage-technology company on June 3 to service first and second mortgages.

National Mortgage News, June 6, 2016--Passy, Jacob Ocwen Financial Corp. in West Palm Beach, Fla., will lay off 120 employees as part of a plan to reduce costs.

Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2016--Borak, Donna Wall Street banks would be able to break away from the 2010 Dodd-Frank regulatory-overhaul law under a Republican plan-but it would cost them billions of dollars. The GOP plan set to be released by the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday in a speech in New York would provide financial institutions, large and small, an alternative to the existing postcrisis regulatory regime. They would be allowed to opt in to the alternative plan if they can surpass critical thresholds. 

National Mortgage News, June 3, 2016--Finkelstein, Brad; Passy, Jacob This mortgage insurance market ain't big enough for all seven of us. So says Patrick Sinks, CEO of MGIC Investment Corp., which has seen its market share chipped away by smaller, newer underwriters created after the housing crisis.

National Mortgage News, June 3, 2016--Passy, Jacob The bill, titled the New York State Abandoned Property Relief Act of 2016, passed on a 116-22 vote May 24. "Lenders doing business in the state of New York should be very concerned about this legislation," said Zahras Jafri, president of the Empire State Mortgage Bankers Association.

HousingWire, May 31, 2016--Lane, Ben Several senior executives at First Mortgage Corporation lied about the performance of the mortgages the company originated so they could pull the mortgages out of mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae,then turn right back around and sell the mortgages back into new mortgage bonds, defrauding investors out of $7.5 million, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday.

SFGate.com, May 31, 2016--Lavingia, Christina Homeownership might appear increasingly elusive to a large subset of the population, but a whopping $8.74 trillion of U.S. debt (72 percent) is mortgage-related, according to MarketWatch.

24/7 Wall Street, June 3, 2016--Ausick, Paul Data compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association show a recent annual low of 39.8% of refinancings in 2014, rising to 46% in 2015. Refinancing reached an annual peak of 71.2% in 2012, when the annual average mortgage loan rate was 3.66%, according to data from Freddie Mac.

New York Times, May 31, 2016--Henning, Peter J. Proving fraud usually starts with finding a lie made to mislead someone into pursuing a transaction or spending money when they would not have done so if they knew the truth. Figuring out exactly what constitutes the type of deception that can support a case remains a challenge, however, as shown by a federal appeals court decision last week.

Scotsman Guide, June 1, 2016--Whitman, Victor A coalition of progressive activist associations and small-lender trade groups made another pitch this week to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's regulator to recapitalize the government-sponsored enterprises.

MortgageOrb.com, June 1, 2016--Barnard, Patrick The new single security and related platform being developed by government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be ready to go live later this year, a panel of experts said during the recent Mortgage Bankers Association Secondary Market Conference and Expo.

HousingWire, June 1, 2016--Swanson, Brena The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau TRID rule is finally up for revisions after industry cries for changes and clarifications.

National Mortgage News, June 1, 2016--Finkelstein, Brad The move towards a single mortgage security is moving too slowly, and that could result in a setback for this program after the election, Mortgage Bankers Association CEO Dave Stevens said.

Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2016--Tracy, Ryan Federal Reserve officials strongly signaled they will toughen big-bank capital requirements even more than they have since the 2008 crisis, a move that will add to the pressure on the largest U.S. banks to consider shrinking.

HousingWire, June 2, 2016--Lane, Ben The ghosts of Countrywide past just struck again, as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced Thursday that eight major financial institutions will pay $190 million total to settle a series of lawsuits tied to toxic Countrywide mortgage bonds that subsequently led to the failure of five banks during the housing crisis.

HousingWire, June 3, 2016--Lane, Ben In a letter sent this week to Mel Watt, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Jack Lew, the secretary of the Department of the Treasury, a group of 32 Democratic members of the House of Representatives say that the GSEs dwindling capital base, which is set to completely expire in 2018, has "serious consequences" for "underserved markets."