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22 AGENCY SPOTLIGHT A LOOK AT THE GSEs' LATEST POLICY DEVELOPMENTS AND TOP HEADLINES CREDIT STANDARDS RELAX AT YEAR-END After loosening steadily for several months, credit standards for mortgage loans ended 2013 at their lowest level all year, according to the December Origination Insight Report. e average FICO score for a first-lien loan closed in December was 727, down from 729 the previous month and 748 a year ago. Just under one-third of loans—31 percent— had FICO scores of less than 700 in December, up 10 percentage points from December 2012, according to Ellie Mae. e average loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for a loan closed in December was 82. LTV hovered between 79 and 82 all year. Debt-to-income ratio also ended the year with a high—39 percent, according to Ellie Mae. December's closing rate was 54.3 percent, a little higher than November's rate of 53.1 percent. Purchase loans made up a greater share of December's closed loans than refinance loans, following a trend started in the second half of the year. Purchase loans accounted for 54 percent of loans, while refinances accounted for 46 percent. is is little changed from November's 55-45 percent split. However, it is a significant shift from a year ago when purchase loans made up just 31 percent of loans and refinances accounted for 69 percent. Origination Insight Report Conventional loans accounted for 69 percent of loans originated in December, while Federal Housing Administration-backed loans accounted for about 20 percent, unchanged from November, according to Ellie Mae. Interest rates on all types of loans increased over the month. e average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate loan closed in December was 4.59 percent, up from 4.53 percent in November. e average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate loan was 15.1 percent, up from 14.5 percent in Novem- ber. e average rate for an adjustable-rate mort- gage loan closed in December was 6.6 percent, up from 5.8 percent in November. Loans originated in December took an aver- age 43 days to close, up slightly from 42 days in November but down from 55 days a year ago. Purchase loans took longer to close at 46 days, while refinance loans closed in about 40 days. Both are down from a year ago, when they took 51 days and 57 days to close, respectively. In January 2014, the agency issued a total of $1.75 billion worth of single-family and multifamily loans. In January 2014, single- family homes constituted $387.2 billion of Ginnie Mae's unpaid principal balance. In 2013, the agency issued a total of $417 billion in mortgage- backed securities, last year, and had issuances were $72.3 billion more than 2012. In 2013, Ginnie Mae's unpaid balance was $1.480 trillion. Sources: Ginnie Mae Issuance Summary, Ginnie Mae Unpaid Principal Balance Report GSE STATS