Mortgages

The availability of financing hasn’t been an issue to date, but it still could be.

The legislation would let banks postpone the start date of the Current Expected Credit Losses accounting standard and delay categorizing pandemic-related loan modifications as troubled debt restructurings.

About 4,400 loans started the foreclosure process in November, alongside 176,000 mortgages in active foreclosure.

The company was accused of sending borrowers erroneous loan modification information between 2014 and 2018.

The company expects a good year ahead for mortgage insurers, assuming that rising employment, higher home prices and payment timing deferrals will help them to mitigate risk.

With infection rates rising and unemployment claims increasing since Thanksgiving, mortgages in coronavirus-related forbearance rose by 37,000 last week, according to Black Knight.

The proposal builds on guidance the agency gave to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac earlier this year.

The percentage of seriously delinquent loans hit 5.8% in the third quarter, up from 1.5% a year earlier but down from 6.8% in the second quarter.

The deadline for inclusion in Ginnie mortgage-backed securities has been extended and an exception will be made for some participations.

The $425 million loan securitization is among two single-asset, commercial-mortgage deals launching this week. Brookfield Asset Management's global real estate arm is also tapping investors to finance an $825 million loan backed by a downtown Manhattan office building.

With coronavirus inoculations underway and government stimulus likely to come, the outlook for next year’s housing market and lending environment grew more optimistic in December.

Last year, smaller lenders were put at a slight disadvantage in terms of what they were charged in guarantee fees when they sold loans for cash.

The pool of 359 loans also on average carry higher balances (over $900,000) compared to the REIT's earlier pass-through deal this year.

While 12,000 mortgages exited forbearance, the most borrowers entered forbearance protection in a week since early September, according to Black Knight.

But late payments for all other investor types rose compared with the second quarter.

The November foreclosure rate represented an 80% decline from the year before, according to Attom Data Solutions.

The consumer bureau's revamp of criteria for "qualified mortgages," a special regulatory class of loans free from liability, emphasizes pricing instead of a borrower's debt-to-income ratio.

But existing deals are likely to experience issues resulting from higher defaults, faster prepayment speeds.

Many have assumed the high court would rule that presidents can fire the Federal Housing Finance Agency director at will. But during oral arguments in a case challenging the agency’s structure, some justices suggested they could stop short of such a decision.

The average per-loan profit margin remains incredibly strong, but the share of senior executives expecting it to fall has risen markedly.