Mortgages

The March estimates for payrolls of nonbanks involved in home lending confirm widespread anecdotal reports of industry layoffs, but strength in broader financial-services hiring could pick up the slack.

Multiple factors have slowed residential sales, tightening the market for home loans for banks and credit unions.

The move supports strong gains coming in from this side of the business, which helped the company return to profitability in the third quarter.

Purchase numbers came in higher for both conventional and government activity, while the average loan amount shows signs of easing.

While first-quarter profits were up considerably, CEO Michael Nierenberg said the company will offer more products to counter market conditions that are “only going to get worse.”

Fair value increases on existing business and an accounting change made for troubled debt restructurings likely explain why its results contrasted those of competitor Freddie Mac.

While the government-sponsored enterprise’s single-family mortgages are still not performing as well as they did before the pandemic, the most recent vintages are getting there.

While the lender-servicer reported robust Q1 earnings, it is anticipating lower future revenue due to the tight originations environment.

Surging interest rates have pushed refinance applications down by over 70% in a year, while ARMs have doubled their share in three months.

Strong general unemployment gains, student loan deferrals and borrowers enjoying low interest rates secured in the refinance boom contributed to the positive gains.