Housing markets

Loan volumes fell for the third straight week, with depressed demand for government lending driving activity downward, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Between a new partnership with REdistribute and two other agreements, the mortgage technology company says it has access to over 90% of property listing data.

The former Trump-appointed Federal Housing Finance Agency head offers insights on the road ahead for mortgage lenders and residential real estate at large.

Public policy experts debated the effect of rising rates on the mortgage market, the impact on homebuyers and ways that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could exit conservatorship at the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference.

Even as Freddie Mac's survey put rates at their highest since December 2000, factors like rising oil prices and a government shutdown could slow the economy.

Critics of the Federal Home Loan banks fundamentally misunderstand the purpose and necessity of the system.

The 30-year average for both conforming and jumbo loans jumped more than 20 basis points, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The state lost almost 48,000 people by mid-2022 from two years before, according to Census Bureau estimates, spurring concern about outmigration that will curb long-term economic growth.

A potential pause in the cycle by the Federal Open Market Committee is welcomed by housing industry observers, but inflation and inventory hinder activity.

Changes to loan-level price adjustments are perfectly consistent with the FHA's mission and with the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Home loan applications dropped for the second time in three weeks, with the 30-year conforming interest rate ticking up 13 basis points, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

During a hearing on racial bias in home valuation, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau questions the Appraisal Foundation's "weird" regulatory structure.

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

Though housing is experiencing severe rate-related stress, mortgage banking remains central to the Denver-based bank's business model. The Texas market has held up better than much of the rest of the country, company executives say.

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.

JPMorgan Chase's asset-management arm entered into a deal to acquire more than $1 billion of single-family rentals, a sign that choppy markets haven't scared investors away from suburban housing.

Choices of which homes are used for comparisons play a major role in disparate home valuations for Black and white homeowners, according to studies recently released by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and academic researchers.

It came as a surprise to many housing experts that Asian, Black and Hispanic homeownership rates all jumped last year by more than 2 percentage points, according to quarterly Census Bureau data.

The middle of a housing market downturn is no time to experiment with untested underwriting tools.

Frustrations with gatekeeping, a lack of diversity and the way home appraisal is overseen are spurring many practitioners to call for an overhaul of the industry's governance structure.