MBANow: MBA VP Marina Walsh on Mortgage Loan Performance
The Mortgage Bankers Association released a new MBANow video featuring MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis, who discusses findings from the recent MBA Quarterly Performance Report.
The video can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3N8VWkj_GM&feature=em-uploademail.
“We do see a rebound in overall lender production and profitability in the second quarter,” Walsh said. “That was to be expected, because the
second quarter is traditionally the strongest quarter for mortgage lending.” But Walsh also noted some “good economic variables in place” that drove stronger second quarter performance. “We had mortgage rates that stayed low, and in fact dropped a little bit,” she said. “And that helped overall performance.”
Walsh said looking ahead, the industry has had to deal with several “curve balls” in the third quarter, citing Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. “Mortgage lenders in the affected areas could see some temporary stress involved in closing some loans and loan applications,” she said. “At the same time, mortgage servicers may have some financial stress associated with advancing some payments to investors.”
Another curve ball, oddly enough, is the situation in North Korea. “A lot of investors are turning to mortgage bonds as ‘safe’ investments,” Walsh said. “Thus, bond yields are dropping and in turn, mortgage rates are also dropping. So what we’re actually seeing is a bit of a pickup in refinancing volume, and that may also relieve some of the margin pressure on mortgage lenders in the third quarter and into the fourth.”
Walsh also discusses events at the upcoming MBA Accounting and Financial Management Conference, taking place Nov. 13-15 in San Antonio. For more information about the conference, click https://www.mba.org/conferences-and-education/event-mini-sites/accounting-and-financial-management-2017.
Other videos in the MBANow series can be viewed at the MBA YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swk2VUJeZFI&feature=em-uploademail. The videos are also available on the MBA Insights landing page, https://www.mba.org/publications/insights/insights-publication##SubscriberID####RND##&PageID=21109.
