Origination

​The American Bankers Association’s (ABA’s) 22nd Annual Real Estate Lending Survey determined that 90 percent of the typical bank’s mortgage loans made last year were qualified mortgages (QMs). The survey also found that 78 percent of respondents expect the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) mortgage lending rules will continue to limit credit availability, while 19 percent labeled the impact as severe.

With National Homeownership Month well underway, new research from Bankrate.com found that Arizona hosts three metro areas in the top ten cities for senior citizens to retire, while New York hosts some of the worst areas to retire. Phoenix, Arizona was named as the best place to retire, while New York City was named the worst city to retire.

Law360's John Kennedy reported that a New York state jury found Abacus Federal Savings Bank not guilty of residential mortgage fraud, falsifying business records, and grand larceny charges on Thursday, a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.'s office confirmed to the site.

According to a recent press release, Rep. Steve Israel (D-New York) and Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pennsylvania) have introduced bipartisan legislation to help improve efforts to end homelessness among our nation’s veterans. The Homeless Veterans Assistance Fund Act of 2015 or H.R. 2591, creates the Homeless Veterans Assistance Fund, according to the release. If this legislation is passed, taxpayers will have a chance to help keep nearly 50,000 veterans off the streets by making an optional contribution to the fund on their federal income tax return form.

Amidst the positive May job reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), consumer attitudes concerning the housing market showed vast improvement for the month of May, according to results from Fannie Mae's May 2015 National Housing Survey. These positive changes also support the case for an increase in housing activity this year.

Black Knight Financial Services recently released their April 2015 Mortgage Monitor finding that the refinance share of the mortgage origination market was over 50 percent in the first quarter of 2015, a first since the third quarter of 2013. Black Knight reviewed refinance originations as a share of the total market in the report. Black Knight reviewed refinance originations as a share of the total market in the report. They also examined the tightening of current credit score requirements when dealing with both refinance and purchase originations.

Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland economist Daniel Hartley and Nathaniel Baum-Snow, a professor at Brown University found that for over four decades, the demographic compositions in and near the downtown areas in medium and large U.S. cities have shifted. The residents in these areas make more money, receive better educations, and are not likely to be minorities.

For May, mortgage credit availability experienced an increase, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), a report that analyzes data from Ellie Mae's AllRegs Market Clarity business information tool. According to the index, the MCAI increased 0.5 percent to 122.6 in May.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a complaint in federal district court against RPM Mortgage, Inc. and its CEO, Erwin Robert Hirt, for illegally paying loan originators bonuses and higher commissions to encourage them to draw consumers toward higher mortgages, according to a recent press release. The CFPB also filed a proposal that would require RPM to pay $18 million to consumers and a $1 million civil penalty.

While the nation's unemployment rate (5.5 percent) and the number of unemployed persons (8.7 million) for May 2015 remained virtually unchanged from the previous month, the number of jobs added in May increased substantially from April up to 280,000, according to the May 2015 Employment Summary released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday.