Originations

An equal split of refinance and purchase rate locks occurred during July, helped by elimination of the adverse market fee, Black Knight said.

While the hot market’s actual and forecast home price gains were key drivers of Fannie’s results, they also present a challenge to the affordable housing mission that it’s working to address.

Such applications have declined on an annual basis for the past three months, but overall weekly numbers increased due to a jump in refinances amid plummeting rates.

Despite lower numbers, refi applications continued trending strongly, while purchases fell close to lows from more than a year ago.

Meanwhile, the average new-home mortgage price climbed to a new all-time high, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

As rising home valuations force first-time home buyers out of the market, expect to see non-owner-occupied loans to increase.

“One” is the first in a series of non-agency mortgages the wholesaler plans to introduce this year.

Boosts in purchases and cash-out refinances drove the summer turnaround, according to Black Knight.

Even though the channel helped the bank do over $2 billion in business last year, going forward it will produce loans through the traditional retail business.

Increases in refinances, both in applications and average size, help lead overall numbers higher

The data also showed that more purchase loans were made to low- and moderate-income borrowers last year, but fewer refinances.

Demand was strongest at the high end of the market, which pushed loan amounts up for the fourth straight month.

A spike in government-sponsored applications helped lead indexes to their largest gains in several weeks.

Changed borrower psychology and the severe housing inventory shortage dropped lending activity across the board, according to Black Knight.

Refinancings more than doubled the year-ago amount and made up for the slowed purchase activity, according to Attom Data Solutions.

Average loan size also continues to increase, as demand remains high and costs in homebuilding materials rise this year.

Economic recovery should soar into the summer as vaccination rates climb and restrictions loosen up, but low inventory is likely to limit mortgage activity into the next year, according to Fannie Mae.

With little transitional disruption, the bigger players on the non-agency side could gain a hefty share of non-owner-occupied mortgage volume as a result of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s caps on such purchases, a KBRA analysis finds.

It’s getting easier to close bigger loans for higher-priced properties, but credit is expanding slower for first-time buyers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has moved ahead with an earlier proposal to postpone the full adoption of the qualified-mortgage ability-to-repay rule, citing a need to maximize borrowers' credit access.