Jumbo-Mortgage Lending Thaws

When the credit crisis hit more than two years ago, many banks cut back or stopped making jumbo home loans, but now smaller and regional lenders, along with some bigger players, are issuing more new jumbo loans and doing more refinancings, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In the second quarter of 2010, jumbo-mortgage lenders originated $18 billion in loans - a 20 percent increase from the first quarter. Jumbo lending still remains far below 2007 levels, according to Inside Mortgage Finance Publications Inc. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Chase Home Lending unit increased its jumbo-mortgage volume by 146.2 percent in the first six months of this year over the same period a year earlier, and Wells Fargo & Co. by 47.5 percent, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. PHH Corp. of Mount Laurel, N.J., a mortgage originator and servicer, issued 64.6 percent more jumbos in that period.