Mortgages

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.

The Chicago-based homeowners received a $41,000 check to pay down a portion of their existing mortgage, freeing them from the lock-in effect, DREAM product provider Takara said.

Some litigants are "knuckleheads" but others are real threats, and well-pleaded cases can easily cost companies millions of dollars, TCPA attorney Eric Troutman said.

Questions about the single-report option and whether VantageScore should be introduced before FICO 10T arose during a hearing on broader legislative proposals.

While last year was the best for origination income since 2022, annual net servicing revenue for mortgage bankers was approximately 70% below 2024's level.

This week's Freddie Mac mortgage rate survey shows rates at the lowest in four weeks, but homebuyers are giving mixed signals even with improved purchase power.

Banks are currently underwriting mortgages based on one-year property insurance contracts. The Federal Housing Finance Authority should use its influence to build longer-term climate risk assessments into loans.

Quarterly filings are far from historic highs but rising more consistently, with concentrations in Florida, California and Texas, Attom's latest numbers show.