(RECAP: Nearly a decade after the housing crisis, the mortgage market has evolved in unexpected ways, with nontraditional financiers increasingly backing ever-more leveraged loans. Those mortgages, while underwritten to pristine standards, come with smaller down payments. And it’s non-banks, also known as “mortgage bankers,” that are making the most low down payment mortgages. Either development could be a concern. In general, homeowners with less equity staked in their homes have less incentive to try to keep them if something goes incorrect. And while nonbanks like Quicken and Nationstar underwrite to the same strict standards the banks do, their business model could place them at a disadvantage in a downturn.)
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