Mortgages

The Mortgage Bankers Association now predicts a Federal Reserve rate hike to arrive in 2027, as housing price growth also slows over the next two years.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 42,430 properties in the United States last month, down 8% from the month prior but up 18% from a year ago.

The Federal Housing Administration put an end to pandemic-era relief last year, triggering a 28% jump in foreclosures on FHA loans in the first quarter and an expected spike in defaults ahead.

Regulatory proposals are boosting interest for banks to grow in mortgage, but sustainability demands deliberate, rather than reactive, strategy, experts say.

Employers hired an additional 115,000 workers in April, while unemployment remained unchanged at 4.3%. Despite the positive headline figure, a spike in newly unemployed workers and a rising number of underemployed workers suggests instability under the surface.

Freddie Mac was more aggressive than its counterpart for much of the past year but March activity establishes that there's a different trend at play in 2026.

A rule change requiring trial modifications before other loss-mitigation options is creating workflow and liquidity challenges, especially for smaller servicers without deep resources.

Market mavens love to wax poetic about the so-called resilient consumer, but the reality is consumer spending is largely underwritten with credit, so it makes sense to keep an eye on credit trends.

The GSEs' financials are strong but odds are against a short-term change to conservatorship that would give stockholders access to their profits, Mizuho said.

The litigants, with some of the industry's deepest pockets, may be filing the rare cases to flag and potentially punish bad brokers, one expert said.

Refinances drove growth of last year's lending activity, with both the volume share and average loan size coming in noticeably higher, according to IEmergent.

Home affordability declined on a monthly basis across loan types and racial demographics, but improved from a year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Growth in retained and investment portfolios drove gains as the government-sponsored enterprise reported the highest refinancing share seen in four years.

Higher utilization and aggregate excess payments point to pressure, according to TransUnion. Debt-to-income averages remain below traditional mortgage caps.

Rocket, United Wholesale Mortgage and Pennymac said they will use the new government-sponsored enterprise credit metric as large lenders get on board.

Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor encouraged the real estate industry to reconsider advice received from DEI experts.

A proposed update to Basel III capital rules from federal banking regulators does not specifically include mortgage insurance as a factor in determining the risk weight for a mortgage loan held on a bank's balance sheet. Industry experts say it should.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is recommending the option for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers with strong credit with a tri-merge for others. Here's why.

Portable mortgages are an interesting idea in theory, and might work well, if underwritten properly. But making existing mortgages portable on a retroactive basis would be both unworkable and unfair.