Origination

The American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) International Center on Housing Risk reported another rise in mortgage origination risk in January, marking five straight months of increasingly risky lending. Researchers at the center say the rise in risk is due to a shift in market share from large banks to non-banks, whose practices are "substantially riskier than the large bank business."

According to a report released Wednesday by credit reporting firm TransUnion, the average mortgage balance per consumer increased to $187,139 by the end of last year's fourth quarter, up from $185,496 in Q4 2013. The greatest increase in mortgage balances came in the super prime risk category.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Tuesday that outstanding household debt increased $117 billion from the third quarter of last year to the fourth, putting total indebtedness at about $11.8 trillion as of the end of 2014. Balances went up across most categories, led by a $39 billion increase in mortgage debt to a total of $8.2 trillion.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Thursday that its Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), which analyzes data from AllRegs' Market Clarity, increased 1.8 percent to 117.8 last month. All of the component indices measured by MBA increased month-over-month, with the gauge of conventional loan availability climbing 3 percent and the government index rising 0.9 percent.

Loosening mortgage standards in the last few months failed to spur demand from borrowers, according to responses in the Federal Reserve's latest Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey. Jibing with another recent survey from Fannie Mae, larger banks were about twice as likely to report easier standards in any given category as smaller institutions.

Property data firm CoreLogic reported that both the sources and frequency of mortgage fraud have transitioned from an alarming level after the crisis to a more "normal" state. There is one exception, however: Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), which have seen fraud risk rise along with demand for loans over the past year and a half.

Calculating from a sampling of mortgage applications initiated on its Encompass platform, technology provider Ellie Mae estimated this week that home purchase mortgages accounted for 56 percent of lending activity last month, up from 54 percent in November.

In a review of its November survey of senior mortgage executives, Li-Ning Huang, Fannie Mae found that though respondents are concerned about compliance issues and weak borrower demand, most are still optimistic about the year ahead, particularly when it comes to their growth plans.

Falling interest rates and demand for hybrid offerings were once again among the most dominant trends in the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) market in the last year, according to a recent survey.

JPMorgan Chase reported a record net income of $21.8 billion for the full year of 2014, up from 2013's net income of $17.9 billion. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo's net income for 2014 was $23.1 billion, a 5 percent increase from a year earlier.