Origination

Second-quarter profits at JPMorgan Chase dipped nearly 8 percent year-over-year as the bank continued to work with a diminished mortgage market. JPMorgan's latest earnings report, released Tuesday, shows the megabank earned $6.0 billion in profits over the latest three months, putting its performance somewhere between the $5.3 billion reported in the first quarter and $6.5 billion a year ago.

Wells Fargo reported strong financials for the second quarter, driven in part by an uptick in mortgage lending and ongoing improvements in credit quality. The megabank reported $5.7 billion in net income for the quarter, up 4 percent over $5.5 billion a year prior. For the year's first half, Wells Fargo took in $11.6 billion in net income, up nearly $1 billion compared to the same period in 2013.

Signs of a healing—though still depressed—jobs market provided some slight lift to mortgage rates this week, market data shows. In its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Freddie Mac recorded the average 30-year fixed rate at 4.15 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending June 10, up from 4.12 percent in last week's survey. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.51 percent following a spike in late June.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Builder Applications Survey (BAS), a gauge of application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of homebuilders, suggests new home purchase applications slipped 5 percent from May to June, the group reported Thursday. The change does not include any adjustments for typical seasonal movements.

Mortgage application activity strengthened last week on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, getting a boost from higher purchase loan volumes. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage applications increased a holiday-adjusted 1.9 percent for the week ending July 4. The last time applications rose was early June, shortly after the Memorial Day holiday.

Despite the best efforts of the federal government to allow those with dented and troubled credit to continue having access to mortgage loans, tight credit restrictions are still slowing the national housing recovery, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Activity in the secondary mortgage market picked up modestly in June, but FBR Capital Markets warns lenders against celebrating just yet. Based on the total issuance of $211 billion in the second quarter, the investment firm estimates total originations were $264 billion for the quarter, just above the $263 billion estimate.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Tuesday a 0.6 percent increase in its Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) from May to June, putting the index at 115.8. The group links the increase in the headline index to "a slight net loosening in lender criteria regarding Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans with respect to minimum credit scores and maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratios."

In the post-crisis era, lenders face the challenge of striking a delicate balance between judicious lending practices and access to financing for creditworthy consumers. The deluge of mortgage defaults and foreclosures that has plagued the industry over the past half decade was set into motion by a subprime mortgage crisis characterized by lax lending standards, easy credit, and higher-risk mortgage products.

According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) product was 4.12 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending July 3. Rates remained down year-over-year for the second straight week, "which should provide some help with homebuyer affordability in many markets," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for Freddie Mac.