Mortgages

In an analysis of the pandemic's impact on the housing market, the agency said nearly 10% of households could be at risk of eviction or foreclosure despite government programs to enable homeowners to delay their payments.

The mortgage giants were authorized to give just over $1 billion combined to the National Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund this year, the highest contribution ever. The amount reflects refinancing growth in 2020.

While foreclosure moratoria keep the overall numbers down, zombie foreclosure rates jumped in the majority of states, according to Attom Data Solutions.

The agency will allow an additional three months of forbearance for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, giving homeowners up to 18 months to suspend payments due to the pandemic.

Just over 12 billion euros ($14.6 billion) of new issue, refi and reset paper has priced so far this year, surpassing a previous high of 7.3 billion euros in the first two months of 2018.

Servicers could be dealing with approximately 1.8 million distressed properties when the latest forbearance extension ends in June, Black Knight said.

The decision provides more clarity to noteholders in the state about when the six-year statute of limitations to bring a foreclosure action begins.

A majority of the loans are also junior-lien obligations, according to a presale report.

The newly public digital mortgage giant is relying on a diverse set of loan channels to take on competitors in an increasingly crowded field, CEO Anthony Hsieh said in an earnings call this week.

Between the dip in refis and the approach of the spring buying season, mortgage lenders are likely to start paying a little more attention to the purchase market, which is less rate-sensitive.

While the Mortgage Bankers Association hailed the move, some experts say it could negatively impact housing inventory.

Both in terms of interest expense and the sheer cost of dealing with consumers, the mortgage industry is out hundreds of millions of dollars due to this unfunded mandate from Congress, analyst Chris Whalen says.

With pandemic conditions in place for a second spring, lenders and brokers discuss the indicators that will reveal whether the market is shifting away from the traditional selling season to one that runs hot throughout the year.

While its net income declined annually for the second consecutive year, CEO Hugh Frater touted Fannie Mae’s resiliency in a record year for providing mortgage liquidity.

The company purchased $1.1 trillion of single-family mortgages and $83 billion of multifamily loans during 2020.

Vornado, a publicly traded REIT, and CPPIB have invested over $64.2 million in capital improvements to the historic One Park Avenue building since 2014.

Gains in consumer financial stability helped to decrease the rates of distressed home loans, but job creation is needed to make recovery sustainable, a CoreLogic report found.

Meanwhile at Essent, more loans exited the inventory in January than in December.

Deals, trends and research in structured finance and asset-backed securities for the week of Jan.29-Feb. 4

However, the share of new impairments increased, likely as a result of the high concentration of these loans given to self-employed borrowers.