The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) is urging the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to overhaul several single-family property standards, arguing that current rules under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)’s minimum property requirements are creating unnecessary costs and limiting access for older and rural borrowers. In a June 29 letter to […]
Analysts from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) say that United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) may be better off after losing its bid for Two Harbors Investment Corp. They argue that the failed acquisition removes leverage risk and increases the likelihood of a dividend cut that could strengthen the company’s balance sheet. In a flash note released […]
Mortgage lenders continued to reshuffle their sales forces last week as 266 loan originators changed employers and 1,823 individuals obtained Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) licenses, according to RETR‘s new mortgage market intelligence report released Monday. Venkata Rajaneesh Jandhyam, who originated $118.7 million across 206 loans during the past 14 months, joined California-based Tri Valley […]
Generation Z accounted for a record 20% of home purchase rate locks in the second quarter, marking the largest share on record as younger buyers continue to gain ground despite ongoing affordability challenges, according to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)’s July 2026 Mortgage Monitor. The report, released Monday, found that Gen Z now represents nearly one-third of […]
America has historically leaned heavily on the government-backed Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program as a way for older homeowners to tap into their equity. But amid higher interest rates and steep upfront costs, private-sector alternatives are aggressively stepping in to fill the void. Proprietary reverse mortgages in the U.S. are evolving to offer higher loan-to-value ratios, […]
The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) has updated its Mortgage Insurance Implementation Guide to incorporate data requirements for VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) subsidiary announced Thursday. The guide provides a standardized data framework for electronic information exchange between lenders and mortgage insurers across key processes, including mortgage insurance (MI) […]
With the first half of 2026 in the rearview mirror, the reverse mortgage industry continues to work through a variety of pain points that are keeping origination and securitization levels historically low. HousingWire‘s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD) analyzed page views to uncover the most popular stories during the first six months of the year. While […]
Mike Kortas is stepping into the mortgage servicing space with the launch of evoLend — a servicer approved for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae loans that’s initially designed to give NEXA Lending loan officers a competitive advantage in borrower relationships. In an interview with HousingWire, Kortas — the founder and CEO of NEXA […]
The mortgage market is producing inconsistent credit decisions on borrower profiles that it will encounter with increasing frequency. Borrowers aged 60 to 69 are currently 1.5% more likely to be rejected for a mortgage than younger applicants. Those over 70 face a 2.7% higher denial rate. These numbers don’t reflect elevated credit risk. They reflect […]
Finance of America (FOA) has closed an all-cash acquisition of reverse mortgage servicing rights from Onity Mortgage Corp., adding roughly 20,000 Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) with a combined $5.2 billion in unpaid principal balance (UPB) to its portfolio, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal, disclosed by FOA in an 8-K filing with the Securities […]
Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) remain a minority of total agency originations, but they have reemerged in 2026. This time, independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and more leveraged borrowers are driving a rise in market share, according to Polygon Research. The analysis, updated Monday by Polygon founder and CEO Val Buresch, found that ARMs rose to 3.34% of […]
A growing share of Americans now expect financial advisers to handle estate planning, and many would consider switching firms if they do not, according to Trust & Will‘s 2026 Financial Advisor Report. The survey of 1,500 U.S. adults found that 61% believe estate planning should be part of an adviser’s services, while 68% of clients […]
Finance of America (FOA) remained the top Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) lender in June 2026 as overall direct retail endorsements increased modestly from May but continued to trail last year’s pace, according to a HECMWorld.com report released Wednesday using data from Reverse Market Insight (RMI). The top 100 HECM retail lenders logged 2,064 loans […]
Boston-based home equity investment (HEI) provider Hometap is facing multiple lawsuits from customers claiming that the company has violated the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and is promoting a “predatory and abusive mortgage loan product.” The latest class-action suit, filed June 23 by plaintiff Marlene Crawford, a Hometap customer and resident of California, accuses the […]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Wednesday released historical credit score data for FICO Score 10T and additional data for VantageScore 4.0, giving lenders a window into how the new models perform compared to the legacy Classic FICO model. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) agreed to terms for the release of the historical FICO Score 10T […]
Mortgage applications increased 0.04% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending June 26, 2026. Last week’s results included an adjustment for the Juneteenth holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 11% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased […]
Loan analysis and technology firm Reverse Market Insight (RMI) on Wednesday announced an expansion of its Reverse Qualifier tool, giving reverse mortgage originators the opportunity to price and model the benefits of proprietary products from SmartFi Home Loans alongside existing capabilities for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs). RMI initially launched Reverse Qualifier in October 2025, […]
A major shift has happened inside American housing finance, and it should have the full attention of lenders, regulators and policymakers. For the first time on record, Americans 70 and older hold a larger share of the nation’s real estate wealth than Americans aged 40 to 54. That crossover happened in 2025. Older homeowners now […]
Nonqualified mortgage (non-QM) originations are on track to set another post-crisis record in 2026, as debt-service-coverage ratio (DSCR) and investor loans fuel growth in a still high-rate environment, according to a new Bank of America Securities report. In terms of non-QM securitizations, insurance demand for bonds remains strong and investors are looking for high-quality, jumbo-like […]
Nearly a year after Rocket Companies closed its acquisition of Redfin in an all-stock transaction valued at $1.75 billion in equity, Joe Rath, the former Redfin senior director of operations and current head of industry relations at Rocket, says that things “could not have gone better” with the integration of the two firms. “We have […]
Hometap is expanding its home equity investment product (HEI) into five additional states, extending its reach to markets that represent more than half of U.S. homeowners. The Boston-based financial technology company announced Tuesday that its HEI product is now available in Georgia, Montana, Tennessee, Idaho and Delaware. CEO Jeffrey Glass told HousingWire that the company […]
LodeStar Software Solutions, a provider of mortgage closing cost and fee data, said that purchase loan closing costs at the national level fell 2.9% year over year in 2025, driven largely by declining home prices that reduced transfer tax burdens in many markets. The findings, which come from the company’s Year-Over-Year Mortgage Closing Cost Report, […]
I watched mortgage leaders embrace AI at The Gathering in Austin. And for good reason: The tools are getting good, the productivity math is starting to math and the competitive pressure is doing what classic IMB horse races do. I left more bullish about AI in the industry than when I arrived. I also left […]
A national survey commissioned by LogicMark Inc. paints a stark picture of the nation’s caregiving crisis, finding that 90% of family caregivers report symptoms of burnout. And younger adults, particularly Gen Z, are carrying an outsized share of the burden. The survey, conducted in April 2026 by Talker Research among 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide, comes […]
Supreme Lending announced Monday the launch of Supreme CASA, a companywide initiative aimed at expanding homeownership opportunities for Hispanic and Latino communities through bilingual mortgage professionals, culturally tailored education and community outreach. The initiative builds on the company’s HomeSí division, which launched in 2025 to serve Latino borrowers. It centers on bilingual customer support, educational […]
Business relationships between financial advisers and reverse mortgage professionals have always been tricky arrangements. Like anyone else who lacks detailed product knowledge, advisers may have misconceptions about reverse mortgages, resulting in missed opportunities when attempting to build resilient retirement plans for clients. Ryan Ponsford used to be one of the skeptics. He’s been in financial […]
For most of the past two years, the mortgage industry has been organized around a single question: When will rates come down? Sales pipelines, marketing campaigns and recruiting pitches all leaned on the assumption that pent-up demand was waiting to be unlocked the moment mortgage rates reached some magic threshold. There is something understandable about […]
You hear them in a conference session, jot them down in your notebook, and then weeks later you find yourself still thinking about them while walking the dog, sitting on an airplane or reading another industry headline (from HousingWire, of course). That happened to me with something Ron Leonhardt, founder and CEO of CrossCountry Mortgage, […]
New York Attorney General Letitia James has charged a Queens resident with allegedly stealing the Brooklyn home and savings of a 92-year-old woman with dementia, in a case highlighting how deed theft continues to strip home equity and housing security from elderly homeowners in New York City. On Thursday, James’ office announced the arrest and […]
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has updated several home loan appraisal requirements, removing and revising certain Minimum Property Requirements (MPRs), the agency announced Thursday. The changes are now in effect and reflected in the revised VA Lenders Handbook. The agency said in a news release that the updates are intended to “reduce delays, […]
The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) has published standardized data mappings for two core U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loan eligibility forms — a move aimed at reducing manual work and speeding up VA underwriting. The real estate finance standards organization on Thursday said it released specifications for the VA Request for Certificate […]
U.S. mortgage performance remained stable in May even as headline delinquencies rose due to a Sunday month-end that pushed some payments into June, according to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)’s First Look report released Friday. The national delinquency rate climbed 15 basis points in May to 3.50%, up 4.5% from April, ICE reported. Delinquencies are still below […]
The mortgage industry has never been short on movement. In just the past decade, we’ve seen the rise and fall of companies, shifts in market leadership, the emergence of new technology and the kind of disruption that forces every originator to stop and ask: What am I really building? We’re operating in one of the […]
U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) are calling on Congress to shore up Social Security by lifting the cap on wages subject to payroll taxes. The proposal comes as policymakers and financial professionals warn of looming funding shortfalls and widespread confusion among retirees about how the program works. In an essay published […]
JPMorgan Chase has named Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh as co-presidents effective immediately — the clearest step yet in the board’s planning for an eventual successor to CEO Jamie Dimon. Dimon, who has led JPMorgan since 2006, remains as chairman and CEO. Over his tenure, he has reduced the bank’s direct mortgage origination footprint in favor […]
Homebuyer affordability deteriorated in May as higher mortgage rates and larger loan application amounts pushed monthly mortgage payments higher, according to data released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The MBA’s Purchase Applications Payment Index (PAPI), which measures mortgage payment burdens relative to income, rose 2.2% to a reading of 159.4 in May. — […]
As mortgage underwriting absorbs Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) activity, rent payment history and trended credit data, consumers face a new challenge: understanding how everyday financial behavior is being interpreted by increasingly sophisticated scoring systems. Credit modernization is not the problem. In many ways, it is overdue. The lending industry has made a strong case […]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has proposed replacing its existing Duty to Serve (DTS) regulation with an outcome-based framework that would change how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac support manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation and rural housing. The proposal, released in a notice of proposed rulemaking on Wednesday, would emphasize chattel loans, broaden how […]
AARP, the nation’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to serving older Americans, on Wednesday announced more than $8 million in grants across the country. The funds aim to make communities more livable, with specific targets toward improving housing, public spaces, transportation and digital connectivity. As part of the 10th anniversary of the nonprofit’s Community Challenge grant […]
Fannie Mae will soon announce initiatives to expand its title waiver pilot program, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte said Tuesday. The program, announced by President Joe Biden during his March 2024 State of the Union address, aimed at reducing closing costs as part of a broader “war on junk fees.” It allows […]
In March of this year, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unveiled a major change to condominium lending, financial and insurance standards aimed at improving the way condos are bought, sold and managed. These updated rules change the criteria for prospective condo buyers to obtain conventional financing through Fannie and Freddie, which has ripple effects across […]
Finance of America (FOA) announced on Tuesday that it has appointed three senior executives to lead its brand, communications and product functions as the reverse mortgage lender looks to expand its retirement-focused home equity offerings. Colm Murphy has joined as chief brand officer, Jordan Baucum as senior vice president of communications and Mike Urban as […]
Two Harbors Investment Corp.‘s latest adjournment of its special meeting underscores just how tight the shareholder math appears to be on its proposed sale to a CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM) affiliate — and how much pressure is coming from rival bidder United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM). Two Harbors said Tuesday it has pushed its special meeting of […]
Lender and GSE responses to the “lender choice” credit score selection policy announced last year are likely to have significant impacts on the allocation of mortgage credit among credit investors. As analyzed in several studies, including my own, absent a response by the GSEs, there is the potential for adverse selection to raise credit risk […]
Executives at United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) and Two Harbors Investment Corp. (TWO) raised the heat in an email exchange during their latest round of deal negotiations. TWO mentioned that UWM could be trying to frustrate competitor CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM) in its efforts to acquire Two Harbors, while UWM alleged that TWO executives are prioritizing their […]