Origination

In San Diego, Mortgage Capital Management (MCM) announced the hiring of Robert Satnick as national sales director.

In a recent "US Housing Market Update," Capital Economics points to Federal Reserve's latest Senior Loan Officer Survey (SLOS), which showed a net balance of 8 percent of banks loosening mortgage credit conditions in the three months to April. While that may seem a small share, Capital Economics notes conditions have now either loosened or held constant in eight of the past nine quarters. In addition, a net balance of 27 percent of banks intend to increase their residential mortgage assets over the next year.

Trulia tossed its two cents into the bubble debate with the release of Trulia Bubble Watch, a report that compares various price indexes to per-capita income and rent data.

Equity Loans LLC, an Atlanta-based leader in the residential mortgage industry whose operations extend to more than 30 states, opened four new office locations in the first quarter of this year.

The National Association of Home Builders├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ó (NAHB) 55 single-family Housing Market Index (HMI) jumped year-over-year for the sixth consecutive quarter in Q1, the association reported. As of the end of March, the index rested at 46, 19 points above the same period last year and the highest first-quarter number recorded since the inception of the index in 2008. There are two separate 55+ HMIs to represent two segments of the market: single-family homes and multifamily condominiums.

Freddie Mac is hoping to spread information about a rule that allows people to leverage financial assets such as retirement accounts as qualifying income when applying for mortgage loans. While the rule has been in effect since spring 2011, "word has apparently been slow to spread judging by the calls [the company fields] from inquiring borrowers and housing professionals," according to two executives posting on Freddie Mac's Executive Perspectives Blog.

Pisgah Community Bank (Asheville, North Carolina) and Sunrise Bank (Valdosta, Georgia) became the 11th and 12th federally insured banks to fail in the nation this year, FDIC announced.

Louie Colatriano, formerly of Bank of America, has joined Stearns Lending as SVP of margin management, the firm announced. In his role, Colatriano will lead efforts to profitably grow originations and maximize mortgage production margins across all business channels with a special focus on Stearns' strategic alliance business partners.

While competition over available homes remains fierce in many areas around the country, the latest Bidding War Report from Redfin shows some markets cooled off a bit in April.

Estimated Q1 originations by all U.S. lenders came out to about $505 billion, according to Mortgage Daily.