Tag Archives: Loan-to-Value Ratio

Elevated refinance activity under the Home Affordable Refinance Program continues to support overall growth in originations, according to LPS.

Purchase originations gained a bit more ground on refinances in November, according to Ellie Mae's latest Origination Insight Report. According to the findings, refinance originations pulled back slightly to represent 68 percent of loans closed, down from 69 percent in the October report. Meanwhile, the share of purchase loans increased to 32 percent from 31 percent previously. Though refinances are slowly losing ground, refinance share remains well above its May level, when refinance and purchase shares were fairly equal.

According to the FHFA, the government's Home Affordable Refinance Program is on target to reach a million borrowers this year.

Despite a $355 billion increase in the value of household real estate, household net worth fell $322 billion in the second quarter, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday in its quarterly Flow of Funds:http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/Current/z1.pdf report.

Struggling borrowers in need of alternative home loan modifications are getting a helping hand from a Texas-based mortgage lender and servicer. Homeward Residential, Inc., has rolled out a new program for consumers who are unable to qualify for modification options through federal initiatives.

Ellie Mae released its most recent Origination Insight Report Wednesday, revealing that July├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós closing rate for all loan applications fell from June├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós total. The report draws data from a sampling of loan applications that go through Ellie Mae├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós network and mortgage management software. To get a meaningful view of lender ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├àÔÇ£pull-through,├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├é┬Ø the company reviewed a sample of applications initiated in April to come up with a closing rate for July. Ellie Mae found that 45.8 percent of all applications closed in July.

Freddie Mac announced Tuesday its plans to expand on its Relief Refinance Mortgage Program by aligning separate mortgage requirements. The GSE announced that it will align requirements for mortgages with loan-to-value ratios that are equal to or less than 80 percent with those for mortgages with LTV ratios greater than 80 percent. The alignment is expected to eliminate many of the lender├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós selling representation and warranty responsibilities on loans being refinanced. Details are scheduled to be announced to lenders by mid-September.

More underwater borrowers are choosing to refinance their mortgages under the Home Affordable Refinance Program than at any time since the government program launched in 2009, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The regulatory agency released a report Monday that found total refinance volume up by 20 percent in May. The reasons why? According to the FHFA, record-low interest rates for 30-year fixed-mortgages couple with recent modifications to HARP to create the conditions for a refi boom.

Overall, mortgage originations declined in April. However, originations for loans with high loan-to-value ratios have been on the rise the past few months with April as no exception, according to the latest data from Lender Processing Services. The percentage of non-FHA originations has also been on the rise since for several months, and it did not drop off in April. In fact, non-FHA loan originations have risen steadily since November 2011 when they took up 20.2 percent of total loan originations to 33.8 percent in April.

Demand for mortgages increased in May, according to a report released by Ellie Mae Wednesday. The Origination Insight Report for May 2012 showed that the average loan-to-value on closed loans jumped up above the 80 percent mark for the first time since the company began tracking in August 2011. Ellie Mae attributed the increase to an easing of LTVs on conventional refinances. The average LTV on conventional refinance in May was 72 percent, a slide up from April's 69 percent. Closed conventional refinances with LTVs of 95 percent or higher jumped up to 11 percent in May.