Today’s new home sales report beat market expectations, just like last week’s existing home sales report. However, a detailed analysis of the data explains why housing permits continue to remain at recession-level figures. Builders are struggling to get clarity on how many homes they can sell in this rate environment in the future. Without more […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) this month published an issue spotlight that takes a closer look at home equity contracts, or what the industry refers to as home equity investments (HEIs) that offer a lump sum payment to clients in exchange for a stake in their home equity. At the time the contract is […]
Members of the U.S. home remodeling industry report that while market conditions are stalling larger-scale remodeling projects, consumers seeking remodeling work are focused on efforts that could serve to increase home values and to “future-proof” homes for later life and aging in place. This is according to a report at Kitchen & Bath Design News, […]
Mr. Cooper announced the appointment of Jason Cave as its new SVP of Government Affairs, which was confirmed with HousingWire today. Cave, who started on Jan. 21, confirmed the news on his LinkedIn today. Cave will report directly to Kurt Johnson, the company’s EVP and CFO. Cave joins the company with more than three decades […]
In this week’s episode of the Power House podcast, HousingWire President Diego Sanchez is joined by Newrez President Baron Silverstein. In this informative conversation, the duo touch on Newrez’s growth and acquisition strategies, the use of technology and artificial intelligence for client retention, and finding balance between mortgage servicing and origination activities. This conversation has […]
There were a total of 298 consumer complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2024 that were related to the reverse mortgage industry, according to a database maintained by the bureau. This was 63 fewer complaints than in 2023. Of the total, about 43% were related to “trouble during the payment process.” […]
A state senator in Washington, citing dwindling enrollment numbers at an Olympia college and the impending “silver tsunami” of population trends, wants to close an existing college campus and transfer its control to the University of Washington to repurpose it for health sciences studies. This is according to an announcement from the senator’s office, along […]
Business-purpose residential mortgage lender Dunmor announced Thursday that it has received a minority equity investment from Newfi Lending, a nonagency mortgage lender owned by funds managed by Apollo Global Management. According to Dunmor, the investment is an extension of an original partnership initiated in June 2024. “Our team has created a remarkable platform and brand, […]
Fitch Ratings reported this week that recent natural disasters that have damaged thousands of homes and businesses — including the Southern California wildfires and hurricanes Milton and Helene in the Southeast — are not expected to heavily impact paid claims experience or credit ratings for mortgage insurers. The ratings agency said in commentary released Thursday […]
The Mortgage Collaborative (TMC), a member network comprised of independent mortgage banks, federally insured banks, credit unions and mortgage service providers, on Friday announced its appointment of Jodi Hall as CEO and president. Hall, who has nearly 30 years of mortgage industry experience, is the founder of DandaRoad Consulting, a firm that specializes in advising […]
The MBA Opens Doors Foundation announced yesterday the launch of the MBA Opens Doors Disaster Relief Program, which aims to support children and families affected by the wildfires in the Southern California area. The foundation will provide an additional $100,000 to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). As one of Opens Doors’ 13 hospital partners through […]
Ginnie Mae’s complementary Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM)-backed Securities (HMBS) program, dubbed “HMBS 2.0,” released a final term sheet in November which proved to be the final major policy work of former acting Ginnie Mae President Sam Valverde prior to his departure from the company. It has been roughly one year since Ginnie Mae announced […]
As older Americans run into more challenges with the cost of living on a fixed income, a coalition of advocacy groups in and around New York City are calling for action. Led by LiveOn NY, more than 50 organizations are rallying the city’s government for additional support for older residents as they navigate these challenges. […]
Thursday marks the third full day of the second Trump administration, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) still has a director that was nominated and confirmed under President Joe Biden. How long that will last is anyone’s guess, but for right now, Rohit Chopra is continuing to work until he is notified by the […]
Housing professionals have been waiting for a change of administration to see how mortgage rates will respond, but in the first week of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, things have been quiet when it comes to the long-term costs of a home loan. HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center showed that 30-year conforming rates […]
What if the story of declining loan officer numbers is just that — a story? If you’ve been around the mortgage industry awhile, you’ve surely heard of a sharp decline in licensed loan officer (LOs) numbers. Some reference a 50% drop in the LO population. Worse yet, other believe that license renewals are down 60%. […]
Reverse mortgage lender and servicer Longbridge Financial, which offers both Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) loans as well as proprietary reverse mortgage products, announced that it has lowered the minimum home value for its fixed-rate proprietary products. Previously, the proprietary product line — which Longbridge calls “Platinum” — had its minimum […]
Home renovation projects could bring a variety of safety and efficiency improvements to older construction, but anxiety is a key element keeping many homeowners from exploring renovation projects. This is according to a report conducted by Renewal by Andersen, a home improvement company. The study surveyed 2,500 homeowners across four generations: Gen Z, millennials, Gen […]
Online real estate marketplace Auction.com announced Wednesday that it is launching SmartSale, a technology-powered option to foreclosure that lets distressed homeowners list and sell their property. SmartSale allows homeowners to sell their homes through direct offers from buyers or an auction process. For those who are struggling to repay their mortgages, the process aims to […]
Mortgage escrow accounts are an important, yet widely misunderstood asset in the housing market. Although 80% of mortgage holders have escrow accounts, only 60% fully understand them, up from 52% in early 2024. And those who don’t understand are paying dearly. That finding comes from a survey released Tuesday by tax and flood services provider […]
Data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Jan. 17 show mortgage applications increased 0.1% from a week earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis. On an unadjusted basis, applications increased by 3% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 3% from the previous week and was […]
The Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for Purchase (H4P) program has long been positioned by reverse mortgage professionals as a viable path for expanding the base of reverse mortgage business. It would allow older homeowners to use a reverse mortgage to purchase a new home. While the required down payment on a home purchased with […]
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s education division, MBA Education, recently launched its Mortgage Banking Bound (MBB) program at Cleveland State University. The program, which is led by adjunct professor Debbie Hoffman — a visiting assistant professor at the Cleveland State University College of Law — offers a three-credit undergraduate course on residential mortgage origination and […]
As he has promised for months, President Donald Trump spent his first day back in the Oval Office signing a flurry of executive orders. These are designed to roll back Biden administration orders and policies, and to change the federal government’s stance on several overarching issues that reflect the priorities of the new administration. Two […]
President Donald Trump did not waste any time Monday after his inauguration as he signed dozens of executive orders tied to everything from immigration and energy policies to a temporary halt on a U.S. ban of TikTok. Trump also rolled back protections for transgender Americans and ended diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs within the […]
After years of high interest rates, and price spikes, mortgage lenders are optimistic heading into 2025. Fannie Mae predicts a 28% increase in mortgage originations to $2.1 trillion. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) also predicts that total origination volume will increase by 28.5% to $2.3 trillion. Alongside that, Fitch expects mortgage servicing rights (MSR) amortization […]
In this week’s episode of the PowerHouse podcast, HousingWire President Diego Sanchez talks with Lower CEO Dan Snyder about the digital lender’s recent acquisition of Neat Labs, its in-house tech development efforts and coaching programs for top producers. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. To start the conversation, Sanchez asks a question […]
Inaction is easy. It’s quiet; unwritten; immune from critique. It sits undone; confidently static. But if buyers and sellers were compelled to transcribe their inaction, it would read like a sociopath’s diary entry: “We could have watched you grow up, but your grandpa and me weren’t willing to give up our 2.875% rate to move […]
As the dust settles from the confirmation hearing of Scott Turner to serve as the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are logging their reactions in official statements and social media posts ahead of an expected Senate vote. While reactions largely fall […]
A notice implemented into the reverse mortgage servicing process that is designed to flag potential foreclosures if they are in a federally declared disaster area could prove to be beneficial for any borrowers currently impacted by the Los Angeles-area wildfires, according to a servicing industry expert. Colorado fire and Ed Sharp After a reverse mortgage […]
Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, highlighted a rise in government loan activity as a key factor behind new-home mortgage growth. “Applications for newly built homes increased 9 percent compared to a year ago in December, while the FHA share of applications reached its second highest level in the survey’s history at […]
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) this week published Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2025-06, which codifies “updates to FHA’s permanent loss mitigation options based on learnings from its temporary COVID-19 policies and feedback received on the draft policies” from a proposal published this past November. Published on Thursday, the letter extends existing COVID-19 recovery options to February […]
Florida-based non-QM lender A&D Mortgage announced Friday that it has acquired the wholesale and nondelegated correspondent lending businesses of Mr. Cooper Group. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed but it is expected to close by the end of March 2025. A&D reported that the two entities being acquired funded more than $10 […]
In a changing real estate market, mortgage lenders face increasing demand. If high mortgage rates and increased liquidity management aren’t challenging, then regulatory changes, operation inefficiencies, and economic uncertainty are enough. With high mortgage rates and stagnated origination, many financiers are focusing on mitigating risk and boosting efficiency. This occurs while they manage the heavy […]
Attom‘s year-end 2024 foreclosure report revealed that 322,103 properties in the U.S. had some type of foreclosure filing — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — last year. The data solutions company also reported that in fourth-quarter 2024, one in every 1,671 properties had a foreclosure filing. Attom also noted that foreclosure filings were […]
Many housing insiders often characterize the topic of housing as a bipartisan one that is somewhat insulated from the acrimony of more divisive issues during a historically polarized political era. This was mostly on display during the Senate confirmation hearing for Scott Turner to be the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and […]
Bill Pulte, a private equity professional, philanthropist and grandson of the late homebuilding icon William Pulte, will be Donald Trump‘s nominee to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), according to reports from multiple outlets on Thursday. Trump confirmed the nomination on his Truth Social account. “I am pleased to announce that Bill Pulte will […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this week warned consumers in all 50 states that fraudsters are posing as mortgage lenders by calling homeowners and asking them to pony up on payments. The scam, dubbed “Green Mirage,” involves callers contacting homeowners who oftentimes “have previously sought relief from their actual mortgage lender and may expect to […]
“The standard of living of the average American has to decline,” he said. “I don’t think you can escape that.” These were the words of Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as he testified before Congress in October 1979. Inflation was 13%. Volcker’s predecessors, Arthur Burns and William Miller, had failed to control prices. Stagflation gripped […]
Mutual of Omaha Mortgage, which rose to the No. 1 position on the reverse mortgage industry leaderboard for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements in 2024, has responded to a September legal complaint by competitor Longbridge Financial. Mutual is denying allegations that it misled potential customers and is demanding a jury trial and for litigation […]
An Elkhart, Indiana, resident who is a beneficiary of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assistance is poised to lose his benefits on Jan. 31 after disclosing on a form that he had ingested marijuana a single time, according to local reporting by a South Bend-based NBC affiliate. This will cause him to […]
With an adjustment for the New Year’s holiday, mortgage applications increased 33.3% from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey, released today. This week’s reading, for the week ending Jan. 10, 2025, is a stark difference from last week’s applications, which reflected a seasonal lull following Christmas. While […]
The year 2025 will be transformative for real estate. Rising personal home insurance rates, fueled by escalating claims costs, increasing property values and the growing frequency of natural disasters, will all have a profound impact on market dynamics — and homeowner’s insurance costs. For real estate professionals and mortgage lenders, these shifts present both challenges and […]
At the tail end of 2024, mortgage borrowers shifted their attention away from conforming mortgages and toward refinance opportunities. A report released Tuesday by Optimal Blue found that the conforming loan share sank to historic lows in December. Optimal Blue’s December 2024 Market Advantage report is a monthly study that analyzes key indicators to provide […]
Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) volume took a hit in 2024 and the HECM-backed Securities (HMBS) issuance market also saw overall reductions in output for the year, giving further context to a challenging period for the reverse mortgage industry broadly. Once again, total issuance was down in 2024, and the top 10 issuers reshuffled slightly. […]