Mortgages

As an improving job market aided financial stability for borrowers, 2020 ended with drops in delinquent home loans, a CoreLogic report found.

Servicers struggled to bring back their borrowers as the overall retention rate crept down to a nadir in the fourth quarter, according to Black Knight.

Some applaud the agency's recent delay of the mandatory compliance date for a new Qualified Mortgage standard. Others say it leads to more uncertainty for lenders, opens the door to additional changes and enables some companies to loosen their underwriting.

The agency will allow an additional three months of forbearance for multifamily property loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as long as tenant protections are offered.

The expansion of borrower data collected in the new URLA upends an industry standard and lenders are experiencing some growing pains.

A slight lift in the purchase market paired with a surprising reversal in the size of the average loan, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Rohit Chopra, President Biden's pick to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told a Senate panel he would do more to protect veterans from foreclosure, empower consumers to dispute data on their credit records and crack down on student loan servicers that aren't helping troubled borrowers.

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.