Servicing

Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding grew $44.3 billion during the first three months of 2018, the largest first-quarter gain since before the Great Recession, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Ginnie Mae is looking to start a pilot program to securitize digital mortgages as early as 2019, but issuers would not be able to commingle loans using traditional paper files in those deals.

Robert Broeksmit, a career mortgage industry executive, will succeed David Stevens as the president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Blame the decline in the oil and gas industry; many 2014 vintage deals have exposure to a number of multifamily and hotel properties in North Dakota and Texas, according to Fitch.

There are almost 7 million coastal homes facing more than $1.6 trillion in potential storm-surge reconstruction expenses this year, representing a 6.6% cost increase from last year's hurricane season.

Government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in a race to offer services and technology that help mortgage bankers raise cash from mortgage servicing rights.

Freddie Mac has quietly started extending credit to nonbanks that issue mortgages, a move it says will help the companies maintain access to a crucial stockpile of cash if their home loans go sour.

Ocwen Financial Corp. got back in the black during the first quarter after selling New Residential Investment Corp. $110 million in economic rights to mortgage servicing.

The real estate investment trust is issuing $450 million of five-year notes backed by rights to excess servicing strips of Fannie Mae loans.

Banks would welcome a proposal to loosen Basel III capital restrictions because it would make holding mortgage servicing rights easier and stem the recent exodus of depositories from the servicing business, executives said.