Origination

According to data from finance site Bankrate.com, closing costs in 2014 are up 6 percent over last year, rising to an average $2,539 on a $200,000 loan (assuming a 20 percent down payment). "New mortgage regulations are the biggest reasons why closing costs went up over the past year," said Holden Lewis, senior mortgage analyst for Bankrate. "The good news is that some lenders have not increased fees."

Second-quarter profits at Ocwen Financial fell short compared to last year as costs came up. The company reported net income of $67.0 million last quarter, a decline of nearly $10 million from the year ago period. While revenue was up 2 percent year-on-year to $553.1 million, normalized pretax earnings took a 7 percent hit, which Ocwen chairman Bill Erbey explained was the result of higher regulatory and compliance costs and interest expense.

After fizzling out over the past several quarters, the post-recession refinance boom officially ended in the quarter, according to data from Freddie Mac. The mortgage behemoth released on Tuesday the results of its quarterly refinance analysis for Q2, showing that refinancing fell in the last three months to below 50 percent of total mortgage activity as rising interest rates have stifled demand.

According to the American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) latest National Mortgage Risk Index, the share of home purchase loans at risk of going sour in the event of an economic downturn fell nearly half a percentage point last month to 11.44 percent. According to the group, the risk value of loans securitized in Fannie and Freddie's portfolios fell slightly to 5.8 percent, while the risk index for FHA slipped to 23.6.

Credit standards at large lenders appear to be loosening somewhat, while criteria at small and mid-sized lenders appear to be tightening, according to a new survey from Fannie Mae. Lenders that reported tightening credit standards most often stated "changing regulatory requirements" as the rationale for their stricter standards.

Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) submitted a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asking the agency to expand the small creditor exemptions set out under its mortgage rules that went into effect in January. ICBA's main request is that mortgage loans held in small creditors' portfolios automatically receive qualified mortgage safe harbor status for as long as the loans are held in those portfolios.

After experiencing a post-holiday decline, applications for home mortgages picked up again last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported. MBA's Market Composite Index, a weekly measure of mortgage loan application volumes, bumped up 2.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending July 18, the group said.

While the time it took to close a loan in June increased just slightly from the previous month, the closing rate reached a record high of 61 percent, according to Ellie Mae's Origination Insight Report. Among loans originated 90 days before the report, 60.7 percent closed in June, the report states. This is up from 57.8 percent in May. "Clearly, lenders are working harder than ever to convert and close loans," said Jonathan Corr, president and COO of Ellie Mae.

Bank of Americaposted second-quarter net income of $2.3 billion on revenue of $22.0 billion. A year ago, the megabank reported bringing $4.0 billion. The bulk of the year-over-year drop in profits stemmed from a $4.0 billion litigation expense, "substantially all" of which was related to legacy mortgage-related matters, the bank said.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), total mortgage loan application volumes decreased 3.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending July 11. Breaking down the overall decline, the refinance component of MBA's market index fell 0.1 percent week-over-week, putting a dent in the 0.4 percent rise reported at the start of July. Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted measure of purchase applications fell 8 percent.