Secondary Market

Premier Nationwide Lending (PNL), a Texas-based mortgage bank with operations around the United States, announced it has been approved to provide home mortgage loans and services and in Georgia, expanding its range to 20 states.

According to a release from Citi, the bank will pay Freddie Mac $395 million, all of which is covered by its existing mortgage repurchase reserves as of the end of Q2. The agreement covers claims for breaches of representations and warranties on 3.7 million loans sold between 2000 and 2012. Jane Fraser, CEO of CitiMortgage, said the agreement "marks another important milestone in successfully resolving Citi's remaining legacy mortgage issues."

Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolio shrank in August at the fastest rate so far this year. The portfolio contracted at a rate of 5.0 percent, turning down further from July's -1.7 percent growth rate.

Carrington Charitable Foundation (CCF), the philanthropic branch of the Carrington Family of Companies, announced its 3rd Annual Golf Classic to be held October 14 in Newport Coast, California.

Robert Fulton has joined LenderLive Network as SVP of secondary and capital markets for the company's Correspondent Lending unit.

Responding again to higher mortgage rates, the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) slipped for the third straight month, dropping 1.6 percent in August to 107.7--the lowest level since April, the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which compiles the index, reported Thursday. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said the drop was expected as a consequence of buyers accelerating purchase decisions while mortgage rates were first increasing.

According to Homes.com's latest report, 22 of the top 100 markets in the United States reported price increases of more than 100 percent from their respective troughs, up from 19 the month prior. Marketing analyst Nicole Selvaggi explained that most of the markets that have come back completely "never suffered the significant numbers of foreclosures and short sales that characterized the housing economy from 2007 to 2012," and seven of the top 20 have benefited greatly from energy development from oil, gas, shale, or coal.

Household net worth improved $1.3 trillion in the second quarter--half as fast as the first quarter--as real estate values grew $626.7 billion, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday in its quarterly Flow of Funds report. But, with a drop in mortgage debt--including home equity loans and lines of credit--from $9.39 trillion in the first quarter to $9.34 billion in the second--homeowner equity grew to 49.8 percent in the second quarter from 48.1 percent in the first.

Builders lowered prices and buyers responded in August, pushing new home sales up 7.9 percent to 421,000, reversing almost half of July's 64,000 drop in sales, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Wednesday. The report for August showed a slight shift away from higher-priced homes as houses priced at $500,000 or more accounted for 9 percent of August sales, down from 12 percent in July. Homes priced at $300,000 or less represented 63 percent of all August sales, unchanged from July.

The First National Bank of Long Island (FNBLI) is now using Fiserv's Common Origination Platform for its consumer, business, and mortgage lending needs, the companies announced jointly.