Category: News and Trends

Fitch Ratings, New York, said robust advances in U.S. starts and new home sales should enable public home builders to report meaningfully higher revenues, on average, in the coming year.

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said the U.S. foreclosure inventory in October fell by 27.1 percent from a year ago, while completed foreclosures fell by 21.5 percent over the same period.

Commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding increased by $38.0 billion in the third quarter, as three of the four major investor groups increased their holdings, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported this morning.

As the end of the year approaches, many people start considering what personal resolutions they’re going to make to better themselves in the coming year. For quality control professionals, now may also be the time to decide the needed changes to improve loan quality in 2016.

The Mortgage Bankers Association this week urged the Federal Housing Finance Agency to direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce their retained risk and that FHFA incorporate more explicit up-front risk sharing targets in the GSEs’ 2016 scorecards.

NASHVILLE–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB, said GSE reform, which has stalled in Congress for the past several years, will emerge as a key issue in following the 2016 elections.

Zillow Inc., Seattle, said despite improvements in negative equity rates, underwater mortgages continue to hold the housing market back from full recovery, particularly in hard-hit areas. 

NASHVILLE–For the past couple of years, it’s been good to be an independent mortgage banker.  

This week’s chart shows the recent price spread (per $100 of face value) between Ginnie Mae and Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities.

HOPE NOW yesterday reported the mortgage industry completed 337,000 non-foreclosure actions for homeowners during the third quarter.