Freddie Mac: Housing Affordability Slipping For Most Americans
Housing affordability is slipping out of most Americans' grasp due to rising interest rates, increasing home prices and tightening credit, government-sponsored enterprise Freddie...
AMC Links Says New Correspondent Program A Success
AMC Links says its new correspondent program introduced in October is helping regional appraisal management companies (AMCs) become nationally competitive. The new program...
CFPB Aims To Educate Consumers About Its New Mortgage Rules
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has launched a nationwide campaign to educate the public about its new mortgage rules going into effect...
Ellie Mae: Mortgage Refinancings Increased In November
Mortgage refinancings increased six percentage points in November, month-over-month, according to Ellie Mae's Market Insight Report. Jonathan Corr, president and chief operating officer...
Freedom Mortgage Partners With National MI
To give its customers more loan options, Freedom Mortgage Corp., a national, full-service mortgage banker with retail, wholesale, correspondent and commercial origination and...
Optimal Blue Buys LoanSifter
In yet another example of ongoing consolidation in the mortgage technology and services market, Optimal Blue, a cloud-based provider of enterprise-level pricing, point-of-sale,...
MBA: Mortgage Application Volume Falls To Lowest Level In A Dozen Years
Mortgage application volume decreased 5.5%, on an adjusted basis, during the week ending Dec. 13, compared to the week prior, according to the...
FHFA: HARP Volume Continues To Decline
Rising interest rates resulted in a significant decrease in refinancing volume during the third quarter, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA)...
NAHB: Pent-Up Demand For New Housing Driving Builder Confidence
A lack of inventory of new homes is driving increased demand from home buyers who are determined to reside in new construction. This...
FirstKey Lending Rolls Out New Program For Investors In Residential
Time to fire up that rental-backed securities machine... FirstKey Lending, which offers financing to investors in one- to four-family residential rental properties, has...
NAR Reveals Strong Advocacy For FHA
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has praised the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and released this statement by Steve Brown, president of NAR:...
FHFA Seeks Input On GSE Maximum Loan Limits
How gradually should maximum loan limits for government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be reduced? The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA),...
Ginnie Mae Now Releasing Loan-Level Data Monthly
Ginnie Mae is now releasing loan-level data for existing, active single-family mortgage-backed securities (MBS) on a monthly basis. The first release of monthly...
Merrill Lynch Pays $132M To Settle SEC Claims Of CDO Misrepresentations
Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch division on Thursday reportedly agreed to pay a $131.8 million penalty to settle charges by the Securities...
The West Boasts Healthiest Housing Markets
The nation's healthiest housing markets in October were clustered in California and the rest of the West, according to the newly released Zillow...
MBA: New Home Sales Down 18% In November
In line with the trend of declining mortgage application volume, applications for new home purchases decreased 18% in November, compared to October, according...
CoreLogic: 2013 Tame For Natural Disasters, Compared To Previous Years
Hurricane Irene. The Tornado outbreak in the Southeast. The Joplin, Mo., tornados. The California wildfires. The Colorado wildfires. Superstorm Sandy. Following a rash...
Staff Changes Lead To Some Restructuring At The FHFA
Due to the retirement of Jeffrey Spohn, deputy director of the office of conservatorship operations for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), next...
Some Higher-Priced Mortgage Loans Exempt From Appraisal Requirements
Mortgages of $25,000 or less and certain 'streamlined' refinancings will be exempt from certain appraisal requirements defined under the Dodd-Frank Act, as per...
HUD Releases Final Qualified Mortgage Rule
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Wednesday released its final rule defining a 'qualified mortgage' (QM) that is insured,...