Originations

Community Financial Credit Union is partnering with the hosts of "Bargain Block" to renovate low-cost homes and help prospective buyers qualify for their first mortgage.

The breaks for some lower-income borrowers are welcomed, but the use of debt-to-income as a differentiator could complicate originations at a challenging time, lenders say.

Updates will become effective on May 1 and a uniform mortgage-backed securities fee reduction will begin on April 1.

The move, which comes with an unspecified number of layoffs, is expected to cost the company $3.8 million to $4.6 million in pretax charges in the second quarter.

The shift opens the door for regional banks to increase their aggregation activities, analysts said.

The 30-year fixed rate surged 15 basis points from a week earlier but ends 2022 at more than twice its mark from a year ago.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it would heed the recommendation from a report by its Office of the Inspector General released this week.

The homeownership gap between Black and white populations has widened in the years since the Great Recession, putting obstacles in the way of achieving wealth for a large percentage of Americans. How did we get here, and what do the housing and home lending industries need to do to change the current course?

The increased limit on the size of the mortgages the government-sponsored enterprises will be able to buy reflects the year-over-year change in home prices.

However, a tiered pricing system will limit an inflation-driven increase to under 10% for a small group of originators.

The gain of 3 percentage points in 2022 reinforced industry calls for the agency's mortgage insurance premium to be slashed when the current fiscal year federal budgeting process is completed.

The Fed's interest rate hikes are meant to tame inflation, but the secondary impacts on housing could give the central bank a reason to pump the brakes.

The agency expects one in five borrowers to be eligible for the new pricing benefits.

The mortgage market is reeling from the central bank's strategy of raising rates and reducing its holdings of mortgage-backed securities. Lenders face the worst headwinds in more than a decade.

A piece of legislation cleared the House this week that would allow for so-called "desktop appraisals" on properties financed by government-backed veteran loans.

The 15-year average crossed the 5% threshold for the first time in over a decade.

The bank plans to shrink its vast mortgage empire, which once churned out one of every three home loans in the U.S. and for a time made the bank the most valuable in the nation.

The 30-year average has made a steep reversal over the past two weeks following a large acceleration in mid-June.