Fannie Mae cuts 2023 outlook on recession expectations
National Mortgage News
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The likelihood of a recession drove a reduction in Fannie Mae's mortgage origination forecast for 2023, albeit only by $16 billion. At the same time, the recent five-week decline in mortgage rates, after breaking the 7% barrier, has brought some people back into the purchase market. That led to a small increase in its volume outlook for this year. The U.S. gross domestic product should increase by 0.4% this year, but for 2023, the economy should contract by 0.5%. However, that is a slight improvement over Fannie Mae's November prediction of negative growth of 0.6% next year. "The economy caught its breath in the second half of 2022, but that doesn't change our expectation that it will run out of air in early 2023 via a mild recession," Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae chief economist, said in a press release.
The two companies in total will bring close to 60 new employees to UMortgage. Tyler Hodgson, CEO of NXT Mortgage will also transition to the company, and will serve as the company's president. "Tyler Hodgson and the NXT team are fully aligned on our values and our focus on developing UMortgage to be the best platform for loan originators to grow their businesses," Anthony Casa, CEO of UMortgage wrote in a statement on his Linkedin. The details of both transactions were not disclosed. Meanwhile, the Cleveland, Ohio-based Motto Mortgage franchise, headed by mortgage broker Breon Price, has been renamed to UMortgage Cincy.
Carrington Mortgage Services has reported that it bought $62.3 billion in servicing from home loans held by more than 236,000 borrowers in the past year. The addition of these mortgage servicing rights roughly doubled the Anaheim, California-based company's portfolio. In total, the company now holds $122.1 billion in MSRs, representing a total of 682,000 borrowers. Carrington said it upsized its portfolio without having to engage in any merger and acquisition activity, proof of how active the secondary market for mortgage servicing rights has been. It also represents notable growth in the company's exposure to servicing over the last dozen years.
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U.S. homebuilder sentiment fell every month in 2022, sinking in December to a level not seen in over a decade outside of the pandemic amid elevated mortgage rates and high construction costs. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo gauge dropped 2 points this month to 31, the lowest level since June 2012 excluding the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, figures showed Monday. The uninterrupted slide this entire year represents the longest stretch on record. The rapid climb in mortgage rates this year — a result of the Federal Reserve's aggressive inflation-fighting campaign — crushed buyer demand for homes. At the same time, higher costs for materials and labor have made it more expensive to build. The combination has weighed on builder sentiment and new construction.
As might be expected of a lobbyist representing the title insurance industry, and the trade association fully funded and controlled by the title industry, ALTA has gone to considerable lengths to protect the title insurance monopoly by denigrating consumer choice in the selection of mortgage loan closing services. Leading mortgage lenders are embracing the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac authorized attorney opinion letter as an alternative to expensive and often unnecessary title insurance. The title insurance industry would have Americans believe that experienced real estate lawyers are incapable of reviewing, understanding and rendering an opinion of ownership and chain of title, based on professionally prepared land registry searches and examinations.
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