Origination

The effects of the contemporary lending environment are rather significant. According to the institute, if the “cautious” credit standards of 2001 were in place in 2013, rather than that year’s “severe” standards, an additional 1.25 million loans would have been made in 2013.

The recently released April report finds that homeowners in Hawaii have the country’s lowest property tax burden, coming in at an average of $482 per year. Meanwhile, New Jerseyans must contend with the highest property taxes, paying an average of just under $4,000 a year.

Deutsche Bank‘s and BNP Paribas‘s mortgage units were investors in notes issued by Taylor Bean’s Ocala Funding unit, a mortgage conduit. The two banks sued Bank of America, which acted as middleman between the investors and Ocala, for $1.75 billion in 2009 over their losses on the notes.

The Electronic Appraisal Delivery(EAD) portal for FHA insured single family will be used to provide information necessary for mortgagees to prepare for delivering both forward and reverse origination appraisals, HUD announced through a mortgage letter. Mortgage lenders will be required to use the web-based platform for mortgagee submissions of FHA appraisal data and reports for case numbers assigned on and after June 27, 2016.

Based on the latest Google Trends data and updated housing market data tracked by Auction.com – which together indicate a shift in March home sales – the adjusted Auction.com Nowcast projections are slightly higher than those released on March 24. The original nowcast called for a range between 4.83 and 5.12 million, with a targeted number of 4.97 million.

Fannie Mae's total Book of Business, which includes the gross mortgage portfolio plus the total Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities and other guarantees less the Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities in the portfolio, decreased at a compound annualized rate of 0.1 percent in February, down to $3.1214 trillion. It was the second consecutive month of contraction for Fannie Mae's Book of Business after expanding for three out of four months between September and December.

In 2014, more than $120 billion worth of HELOCs were originated, which is a 21.5 percent year-over-year increase. In addition, more than 1.2 million new HELOCs were opened in 2014, a 15.8 percent increase from the year before. These represent six year highs for HELOC originations.

Average production volume was $417 million per company in the fourth quarter of 2014, down from $437 million per company in the third quarter of 2014, but up from $367 million per company in the fourth quarter of 2013. The volume by count per company averaged 1,769 loans in the fourth quarter of 2014, down from 1,901 loans in the third quarter of 2014 but up from 1,641 loans in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Bank of America began installing automated teller machines with video screens two years ago and began testing screens in some of its branches three years ago. The bank’s use of video to interact with customers is in contrast to some of its big-bank peers, who are taking a wait-and-see approach to the technology.

“Purchase application volume picked up for the week and on a seasonally adjusted basis reached its highest level since January 30, 2015, and continues to run about 3 percent ahead of last year’s pace,” MBA Chief Economist Mike Frantantoni said. “Low mortgage rates and more importantly continued improvements in the job market are the likely drivers behind this increase.”