RMBS

Many lenders and investors are shying away from participating in a special pilot program to refinance Rural Housing Service loans due to risky underwriting features and low profit margins.

The Federal Home Loan banks (FHLBanks) increasingly turned to offering short-term, unsecured credit to financial institutions exposed to the turmoil in Europe as the 12-member cooperative's own core business dwindled, a government watchdog said Thursday.

Servicers supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency completed fewer loan modifications in the first quarter as the number of delinquent borrowers who need assistance appears to be shrinking.

The nation’s balance of delinquent loans shrank by another 37% in the three-month period ending in May while the market still is catching up with the consequences of bad underwriting during 2005-2007.

Data provider CoreLogic announced today that it has incorporated anomynized servicer stop advance data into its private-label RMBS dataset.

The National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) leading indicator of future home sales rebounded in May after an unexpected downdraft in April.

For the week ending June 22, the Refinance Index declined 8% to 4955 from 5386 - its highest level since April 2009. Over the previous two weeks, the index jumped 20% largely as a result of a surge in the Government Refinance Index as pre-June 2009 borrowers took advantage of a drop in mortgage insurance premiums on streamlined refinances that became effective June 11. Also, as a percent of total application activity, refinance share slipped to 79% from 81% previously.

Fitch Ratings said that uncertainty surrounding the Dodd-Frank Act, particularly in terms of the qualified residential mortgage (QRM) definition, has led many traditional RMBS issuers to postpone their issuance plans.

After a long winter of price declines, Standard & Poor's (S&P) finally reported that its 20-city house price index (HPI) turned up in April.

Freddie Mac reported a rebound in lending activity in May after a significant drop in April.The secondary market agency reported Tuesday that it purchased $30.7 billion in residential mortgages from lenders in May, up 19% from April.