Tag Archives: Purchase Loans

Purchase loan share picked up more ground in March as mortgage rates climbed further, according to the latest Origination Insight Report from Ellie Mae.

Bank of America's first quarter net income nearly quadrupled over that of last year, according to the bank's quarterly filings. BofA reported Wednesday net income of $2.6 billion for the first quarter of 2013, up from $653 million the same quarter last year. Revenue was $23.7 billion, up from $22.5 billion a year ago. On the residential lending front, the company reported lower mortgage banking income, largely as a result of lower servicing income.

According to MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 12, application volume increased 4.8 percent week-over-week on a seasonally adjusted basis.

While last year's mortgage market was largely dominated by refinance loans, a new report from MortgageMarvel.com says the stage is already set in some areas for purchase loans to take point.

After recently reporting predictions of declining originations, FBR Capital Markets & Co., now says the market looks a little brighter, and a resurgence of refinances through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) will contribute to originations volumes this year. While FBR maintains its prediction that origination volume will be lower than the volumes recorded in the second half of last year, the company now suggests originations "will largely be better than the 20-25 percent drop-off we projected late last week."

While the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) estimates about $482 billion of originations in Q1, FBR--citing comments from industry contacts--believes first-quarter volume to be closer to $400 billion, a drop of nearly 25 percent from the $525 billion of originations in Q4 2012. Though the year may have started slow, the investment banking advisory firm attributes the drop-off in activity to seasonal slowdown and forecasts growth throughout 2013 as low rates and government expansion efforts keep up interest in refinances.

Lenders are more bullish on the housing recovery now than they have been in the last several years, according to FICO's quarterly survey of bank risk professionals.

While the refinance boom "is coming off the boil," mortgage application data for March has Capital Economics confident that home purchase application volume is in the early stages of a sustainable comeback. Applications for purchase loans rose 4.5 percent from February to March and 11.4 percent over the past year--indicating an upward trend, even if volume is still low by historical standards. March's final week saw a 1 percent bump in the Mortgage Bankers Association's measure of purchase application volume.

Mortgage originations in the New England region hit a five-year high in 2012, The Warren Group reported.

A drop in mortgage rates paved the way for a rise in applications last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported.