The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac improperly amended stock purchase agreements in 2012 when it allowed the U.S. Treasury to sweep up the companies’ net profits, a jury in Washington, D.C. found Monday. The jury awarded shareholders of the government sponsored enterprises a total of $612.4 million in damages. Fannie Mae will pay […]
Swiss bank UBS AG announced Monday it has agreed to pay $1.43 billion in penalties to settle a civil action alleging misconduct related to the underwriting, issuance and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) before the 2008 financial crisis. The settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which refers to a civil action filed in November 2018, does […]
Rate lock activity fell for the second month in July as mortgage rates topped 7% for the first time since November 2022. Overall rate lock volume was down 7% month over month, with purchase lending accounting for 88% of total lock activity, according to Black Knight‘s originations market monitor report. Even so, purchase lock counts […]
The mortgage industry continues to be battered by negative headlines amid the slow in demand, the challenges of housing supply, and rising interest rates. It’s no secret that refinance (refi) volumes dropped off a cliff, and the number of homebuyers in the market has shrunk since 2022. That leaves you with a small pool of […]
Last week ended with a wild ride for mortgage rates. We anticipated the two inflation reports could help mortgage rates, however, we had a bad bond auction last Thursday, and the 10-year yield rose sharply. Weekly active inventory grew slowly again and purchase apps were down week to week again. Weekly active listings rose by […]
New York-based digital lender Better.com will be going public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Aurora Acquisition Corp. nearly two years after Better’s initial timeline to IPO. “At least 65% of the outstanding ordinary shares of the company entitled to vote at this meeting have voted in favor of (the) proposal,” Arnaud […]
AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. entered into a definitive agreement Tuesday to merge with Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corp., beating its competitor Terra Property Trust, Inc. AG Mortgage, a pure-play residential mortgage REIT controlled by Angelo, Gordon & Co. and owner of mortgage lender ARC Home, made a stock-and-cash offer for its peer Western Asset, […]
In accordance with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Freddie Mac has released its 2023 Stress Test Disclosure, which reflects two hypothetical economic scenarios, including a “severely adverse” scenario. Under the latter, Freddie Mac would face a credit loss of $13.7 billion — or 0.4% of its total portfolio — under the […]
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate continued its upward trajectory for the third consecutive week, rising to 6.96%, according to Freddie Mac. Since the last FOMC meeting in July, all eyes have been fixed on Thursday’s Consumer Price Index release. Another rate hike in September would move the target federal funds rate to its highest level […]
Wells Fargo rolled out a down payment grant program that will offer $10,000 to eligible buyers or homeowners who currently live in or are purchasing homes in underserved communities in eight metropolitan areas. The Homebuyer Access grant program is available to those who have a combined 120% or less of the area median income (AMI). […]
However, once you strip out rent — which is what the Fed has told us they want to focus on because of the lag in rent data — the growth rate of inflation is falling more noticeably. The Fed is focused on core service inflation less shelter. If you take CPI data in total and […]
Mortgage tech firm Blend Labs narrowed its financial losses in the second quarter on the strength of its platform business as well as cost-cutting measures. Blend, whose white-label software processes billions in mortgage transactions for lenders, reaffirmed its goal of reaching profitability by 2024. The San Francisco, California-based company reported a non-GAAP net loss of […]
Over the last year, the nation’s largest banks, spooked by surging rates and increased regulatory risks, have shied away from the jumbo mortgage market. A select group of regional bank challengers have suffered a worse fate: dead, sometimes directly because of their own calamitous jumbo strategies. And to compound matters, Wells Fargo, the biggest lender […]
UWM Holdings Corporation, the parent of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), was another mortgage lender that returned to profitability in the second quarter of 2023, just like its primary competitor Rocket Companies and the origination segments of Mr. Cooper and Pennymac. UWM’s performance was boosted by an increase in the fair value of mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) and higher origination volumes, despite lower […]
Large banks have historically been the rulers of the jumbo market. Economic conditions, however, are opening up space for new entrants eying market share. This is because surging mortgage rates, upcoming regulatory changes and regional bank collapses have forced large depositories to pull back. Their retreat opens up opportunities for rival firms to grab market […]
Mortgage applications fell for the third consecutive week as the 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to its highest level since November 2022 at 7.09%. For the week that ended August 4, mortgage applications fell 3.1% from the prior week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Last week, treasury yields rates and mortgage rates rose. […]
Ginnie Mae president Alanna McCargo said on Tuesday that the liquidity challenges faced by nonbanks are a critical issue facing the U.S. government’s mortgage system considering their increasingly important role in the space, and that supporting nonbanks with additional credit facilities will be a priority for the future. McCargo discussed the matter during a live […]
loanDepot delivered its fifth consecutive quarterly loss in the second quarter of 2023, a period marked by a leadership shake-up and a business lines consolidation, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday. But the company’s financials are improving. The California-based mortgage lender had its second consecutive double-digit revenue gain […]
Consumers’ increased confidence regarding their personal financial situations was largely offset by greater pessimism toward home-buying conditions, Fannie Mae’s home purchase sentiment index (HPSI) showed. The HPSI — which tracks the housing market and consumer confidence to sell or buy a home — rose a mere 0.8 points to 66.8 in July. The full index is […]
Gregg Busch has shifted his business focus over the last year or so. And he hasn’t done so voluntarily. Busch is vice president and senior mortgage banker at First Savings Mortgage Corporation, a Virginia-based lender that produced $2 billion in mortgages in 2022, less than half the $4.2 billion volume of the previous year, per […]
Mortgage credit availability dropped to its lowest level since 2013 in July as receding origination volumes led to lower profitability for many lenders. Simultaneously, liquidity concerns persisted for some jumbo lenders. As a result, many companies tried to reduce their operational costs by narrowing their loan product offerings, according to Joel Kan, Mortgage Bankers Association’s vice president […]
In an industry facing headwinds, Connecticut-headquartered mortgage servicer and lender Planet Home Lending stands out among its peers, reporting double-digit increases in mortgage origination volume while competitors struggle to hit last year’s levels. Planet Home Lending, founded in 2007, was the only firm among the country’s top-10 lenders that generated more year-over-year origination volume in […]
Today’s low-volume, purchase-focused market is more competitive than ever, as mortgage lenders work to win more market share than their neighbor and aim to be as profitable as possible. Compressed margins make it crucial to work as quickly and efficiently as they can, taking every opportunity to reduce costs and maximize every basis point of […]
Home prices are going up across the country after slowing for more than a year, according to a new report from data and analytics company Black Knight. The report found that nationally, home prices in June rose by 0.67% month-over-month on a seasonally adjusted basis. Meanwhile, the annual home price increase was 0.8% in June, […]
I am going to be controversial here. The GSEs have become more aggressive in their levels of buybacks with lenders. I say this without the benefit of the specific data, and I would love to see some from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or the FHFA, but in the absence of that, I have interviewed […]
The decision to allow the ICE – Black Knight merger to proceed announces the digital integration of the real estate value chain anticipated for over 25 years. Digitization redraws industry boundaries and changes how the value of information is expressed, enriched and exchanged. The capital, capability and content are present to make all real estate markets […]
Here’s one for you: How many fintech companies does it take to reduce the cost to originate a loan? There’s no great punchline to throw in here — only the sobering fact that it cost a record high of $13,171 to originate a loan in the first quarter of 2023, according to Fannie Mae’s recent […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) and Black Knight jointly stipulated to dismiss a federal court case against ICE’s $11.7 billion proposed acquisition of Black Knight, clearing a major regulatory hurdle that should allow the deal to go through. “The joint stipulation dismisses the federal complaint and dissolves the temporary restraining order […]
The housing inventory data from last week makes me wonder if we are starting the seasonal decline in active listings in August. Mortgage rates also had a crazy week and purchase apps fell once again. Weekly active listings rose by only 2,939 Mortgage rates went from 7.04% to 7.20% and back to 7.03% Purchase apps […]
Mortgage rates are finally headed lower after a crazy week of jobs data showing that the economy isn’t going into recession. Job growth is slowing as we get closer and closer to the target range of the make-up demand in labor, but it hasn’t broken yet. What do I mean by a make-up demand in […]
Rates are high, housing inventory is down, and competition for new originations is fierce. Leaders across mortgage and banking are turning to their marketing partners with some variation of the same ask: “We need to improve the effectiveness and profitability of our campaigns, increase originations, and oh, by the way, budgets have been slashed — so […]
Aurora Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company planning to make public the digital nonbank lender Better.com, said on Thursday that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ended an investigation of the companies with no enforcement action. In July 2022, HousingWire reported that the SEC launched an inquiry into Aurora and Better to evaluate allegations of federal securities law violations, […]
Rocket Companies, the parent of Rocket Mortgage, returned to profit in the second quarter of 2023 after posting losses in the past three consecutive quarters. The Detroit-headquartered lender’s GAAP net income in Q2 was $139 million, an improvement from the GAAP net loss of $411 million in 2023 Q1. Rocket posted a $33 million adjusted […]
Black Knight reported slimmer profits and slowing organic growth in the second quarter, largely due to weaker mortgage volume from clients as well as near-term effects from the proposed merger deal with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). The company’s profit dropped 61% quarter over quarter to $55.3 million in Q2 2023. Profit rose 32% from $40.3 million […]
Mortgage rates continued to inch towards 7% this week as the 10-year treasury yields climbed past the 4% threshold. Investors assessed the state of the U.S. economy after Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S.′ long-term, foreign currency issuer default rating from AAA to AA+ on Tuesday. The following day, the U.S. Treasury announced that it would […]
HSBC Bank USA on Tuesday disclosed that it is facing an investigation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for alleged redlining practices. The federal investigation is based on a complaint filed by the non-profit organization National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), HUD is investigating whether “HSBC Bank USA violated […]
Mobility Market Intelligence (MMI), a data intelligence and market insight tool provider for the mortgage and real estate industries, has acquired Bonzo – a relationship management and mortgage marketing platform. Ohio-headquartered Bonzo will operate as an independent service provider that is led by the current leadership team, which includes co-founder and president Jason Perkins, co-founder […]
Freddie Mac generated $2.94 billion in net income in the second quarter, up 41% from the first quarter and 20% year-over-year. Like its larger government sponsored enterprise cousin Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac’s second quarter was boosted by rising home prices. Executives on Wednesday said home prices rose 2.4% through the second quarter and are forecast […]
New York-based Rithm Capital executives see surging rates and increasing capital requirements for banks as an opportunity to acquire diversified assets and operational platforms at a time when the parent company of New Rez and Caliber plans to spin off its mortgage business. “If you think about where we are in the cycle, interest rates are at some of the highest […]
For all the confusion and volatility that the pandemic caused the mortgage industry, it was clear that the near-zero interest rates were always going to be temporary. After many warnings, The Fed finally made its move in March 2022. Its aggressive inflation-crushing policy extinguished the greatest refi market in history – these days, nearly 90% of […]
Stavvy, a fintech company specializing in digital and remote collaboration for lending and real estate companies, acquired Brace, a digital mortgage servicing platform. Terms of the deal were not announced. With the acquisition, servicers and homeowners looking for mortgage assistance will have access to a streamlined platform that allows them to interact on their terms, […]
Fannie Mae netted $5 billion in profits in the second quarter, up $1.22 billion from the first three months of the year. Executives attributed the swollen profits to the continued strength of home prices, which have risen 5% in the first six months of the year. In fact, Fannie Mae is no longer predicting a […]
More than 2,200 different multifamily lenders provided $480.1 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units in 2022, a reduction of around 1% when compared to 2021 levels. This is according to an annual report of the multifamily lending market compiled and released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). One-third of […]
This year’s HousingWire Women of Influence list recognizes a remarkable group of women in housing who represent the pinnacle of excellence and innovation. These extraordinary women have shattered glass ceilings, defied expectations and carved a path of success through their dedication, expertise and unwavering commitment to transforming the housing landscape. Through their visionary leadership, they […]
Dallas, Texas-based Mr. Cooper Group on Tuesday announced it has completed the acquisitions of Home Point Capital and Roosevelt Management Company. With the deals, Mr. Cooper has moved closer to its $1 trillion mortgage servicing rights (MSR) portfolio target. Mr. Cooper concluded on Monday a tender offer for Home Point’s outstanding shares after extending the deadline twice. According to Equiniti Trust Company, the […]