Kate Berry

Home prices will fall 5% this year and hit bottom in 2012, assuming sales of foreclosed homes start to pick up this year, according to JPMorgan Chase analysts.

The Obama administration faces reputational and practical problems if it rents out foreclosed homes as part of its new efforts to unload the backlog of real-estate owned properties held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

S&P's move caused "a big rally in Treasuries and mortgage rates have come down near historic lows," Saiyid Naqvi says. "With that, we're seeing a surge in refinance volume."

H&R Block Inc. has agreed to pay $125 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the state of Massachusetts against Option One Mortgage Corp., its former subprime lending unit.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has reached a settlement with Bank of America, which releases the company from liability for failing to provide alternatives to foreclosure on 57,000 delinquent government-insured mortgages.

At a time when megabank mortgage servicers are under siege by regulators and consumer groups for their treatment of customers, a small band of specialty servicers is trying to convince Washington that its members can do better.

Even as tight ties between regulators and the regulated are blamed for the housing collapse, former FHA chief David Stevens shows the Washington revolving door is in full swing.

An aggressive push by the Justice Department to investigate fair lending claims is prompting a backlash from bankers who claim the government is abusing its authority.

Servicers get reimbursed for advances when a loan is modified or the home goes into foreclosure. This may help explain why Ocwen's program is specifically aimed at borrowers who've defaulted.

Most borrowers do not end up in worse neighborhoods, nor do they endure more crowded living conditions after foreclosure, the central bank's economists find.

The insurer wants to sell its depository but keep writing mortgages. Essentially, it’s making a bet on regulatory arbitrage — the idea that certain categories of institutions can dodge scrutiny being placed on their competitors.

Six Federal Home Loan banks have launched a salvo against Bank of America Corp.'s proposed $8.5 billion mortgage bondholder settlement, suggesting the payout may need to be triple that amount.

Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill limiting any lien holder from going after borrowers if a short sale does not satisfy the entire mortgage.

It's been difficult to know if the hundreds of billions of dollars of residential loans banks have restructured over the past several quarters are really working. Soon there will be more clarity.

The price of being a good neighbor can be steep for banks foreclosing on condominiums and homes in planned communities.

Moody's Investors Service on Thursday downgraded the servicer quality ratings of two JPMorgan Chase & Co. units, citing deterioration in their collections and foreclosure processes and "operational challenges" due to the current regulatory environment.

Miami couple caught faking a promissory note in order to have mortgage debt discharged; HUD now pushing for those handling loan mods to obtain state licenses; and more.

The Federal Housing Administration is considering tightening borrowers' debt-to-income ratios, a move that would prevent the most highly leveraged consumers from qualifying to buy a home.

With the macroeconomic outlook still glum, housing prices still depressed and the FHA's grip on the market for low-down payment loans still intact, the mortgage insurers are stuck in the same rut.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, some mortgage lenders are choosing to relax underwriting requirements ever so slightly to offset a dramatic drop in loan origination volumes.