Existing home sales had a huge beat of estimates on Tuesday. This wasn’t shocking for people who follow how I track housing data. To understand why we had such a beat in sales, you only need to go back to Nov. 9, when mortgage rates started to fall from 7.37% to 5.99%. During November, December […]
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Monday released a new guidebook that highlights support for the expansion of high-speed broadband internet service to public housing authorities, multifamily owners and operators, and Native American tribal communities in urban and rural areas. The guidebook outlines the funding program mechanics and how these areas […]
Mortgage CRM company Daily AI has rebranded to Aidium Mortgage CRM and launched a new CRM product, the company announced on Monday. The company’s research and analysis suggested that a rebranding, which includes updates to core products, the company’s website, marketing and communications, will represent its goals and solutions for the mortgage industry, according to […]
Lender and appraisal management companies and other property data collection companies can now use Black Knight‘s Scout mobile property inspection as part of the value acceptance plus property data process. With the cloud-based Scout app, users can easily collect detailed interior and exterior property data using a mobile device, Black Knight said Tuesday. “By using […]
Retail lender Guild Mortgage announced Monday that Mary Ann McGarry is retiring from the CEO position in late June, remaining on the California-based lender’s board of directors after retirement. Terry Schmidt, Guild’s current president, is the successor. McGarry joined Guild in 1984 as a supervisor in internal audit and held several leadership positions until promoted to president […]
Cloud-based loan origination system LendingPad has integrated with Aduvo, which provides mortgage marketing automation solutions. “In planning for the launch of Aduvo, our team knew that a partnership with LendingPad would be a strategic move for our company,” said Aduvo founder Josh Bopp in a prepared statement. Users can choose to sign up with Aduvo, […]
Black Knight, Inc. on Monday announced that Frontwave Credit Union will now implement Empower, Black Knight’s cloud-based loan origination system, and its integrated solutions, for the expansion of its mortgage lending operations. The integration with Black Knight’s digital ecosystem will give Frontwave access to technology, data and analytics solutions. These include its Optimal Blue PPE; […]
Flagstar Bank, a top-20 U.S. mortgage lender owned by New York Community Bancorp, announced on Sunday that it has assumed most deposits and acquired certain assets, business lines and liabilities of Signature Bridge Bank, N.A. from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Signature Bank, a New York-based large multifamily lender that disastrously bet big on […]
The housing market was crazy again last week. Mortgage rates fell as the banking crisis got worse and purchase application data grew for the second week in a row, but the big question is: Did we hit the seasonal bottom in housing inventory? Here’s a quick rundown of the last week: The 10-year yield had […]
Candor Technology Inc., a mortgage artificial intelligence firm focused on automated mortgage underwriting decisions, has conducted layoffs as lenders rush to cut costs. “Candor is executing a change in strategy to address the ever-changing mortgage market and to pivot along with client operations,” Tom Showalter, CEO of Candor, said in an e-mailed response. With various […]
Independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks spilled red ink in the fourth quarter of 2022 amid a jump in mortgage rates. These companies reported a net loss of $2,812 on each loan originated from October to December, an increase of more than four times the average per-loan loss of $624 in […]
California mortgage tech firm Blend Labs is focused on cutting costs and courting more users to its Blend Builder platform. The goal is to bring the firm to profitability after posting a net loss of $768.6 million in 2022. Blend’s net loss last year is more than four times the $171.3 million loss it incurred […]
A group of 11 U.S. banks has agreed to make $30 billion in deposits at First Republic Bank to avoid another regional bank failure. The rescue comes after Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed amid a liquidity crisis caused by a deposit run. “Today, 11 banks announced $30 billion in deposits […]
After increasing steadily for over a month, mortgage rates fell last week following a deposit run that provoked a liquidity crisis in regional U.S. financial institutions — and resulted in the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. But what is there to expect ahead for the housing market? Industry observers said that, at […]
How is today’s housing starts data, which beat expectations, good for mortgage rates? Typically good economic data is bad for rates, especially in this environment, when a Fed member will come out and say building or buying homes is bad for fighting inflation. The answer is simple: The best way to fight inflation long-term is […]
First Republic Bank, the fourth-largest non-agency jumbo lender in America, is exploring strategic options, including a sale and a capital infusion, and is expected to attract interest from larger rivals, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter. No decision has been made, and the bank can remain independent, people who requested anonymity […]
Closing software provider Qualia has announced a major update to its software offerings. On Thursday, the firm announced the launch of Qualia Atlas. According to Qualia, Atlas combines title and escrow production, as well as vendor management, along with client and homebuyer connectivity. “We originally launched Qualia almost 10 years ago with the belief that […]
Following a chorus of complaints from the mortgage industry, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Wednesday announced that it would delay the implementation of a new and controversial upfront fee on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers with higher debt-to-income ratios. The upfront pricing fee on DTI ratios of 40% or more – part of […]
Despite the volatile mortgage rate environment and overall economic uncertainty, homebuilder confidence slowly continues to rise, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) report, released Wednesday. In March, homebuilder sentiment in the market for newly built single-family homes rose two points from February’s reading, to an index value of 44. This is […]
The Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failures that occurred over the last week have caused even more uncertainty within the mortgage industry. Still, homebuyers took advantage of declining rates provoked by the turbulence and applied for home loans. Meanwhile, mortgage lenders are still trying to calm down their investors and business partners. The recent […]
On Tuesday, we got more confirmation that the Federal Reserve‘s biggest fear — inflation blowing up to 1970s levels — isn’t happening, according to the CPI data. Even with its most significant component, shelter inflation, keeping core CPI higher than it should be, it’s been hard to accelerate the core data. However, with the current […]
Wisconsin-based Waterstone Mortgage Corp. has promoted Jennifer George to vice president of investor relations and credit policy, the company said in a statement issued Tuesday. “Her industry knowledge, leadership capabilities, and positive attitude make her an ideal fit for her new role,” said Waterstone Mortgage COO Rich Tucker. “Combining her love of research, knowledge of […]
March came in like a lion for the banking industry with a trio of bank failures, including the nation’s 16th largest bank, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), with assets of $212 billion. The other banks laid to rest in early March were crypto-friendly lenders Silvergate Capital Corp. ($11.4 billion in assets) and Signature Bank ($110 billion in assets). The bank failures set […]
Ravi Patel, a top loan officer and former senior vice president of mortgage lending at Guaranteed Rate, and his team, have moved to UMortgage, according to a statement issued on Monday. “Winners in this industry want to join our platform because we’re identifying the acute pain points of loan originators of different backgrounds—whether that be […]
Despite affordability challenges, the Hispanic homeownership rate reached 48.6% in 2022, the eighth consecutive year of growth. Latinos added a net total of 349,000 homeowner households last year, which is one of the largest single year gains over the last decade, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) said in its 2022 state […]
Retail lender Guild Mortgage announced the acquisition of Cherry Creek Mortgage, a privately-held Colorado-based lender with 68 branches in 45 states. Cherry Creek will become its own division of Guild, headed by co-founder Jeff May, Guild said on Monday. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Established in 1987, Cherry Creek offers a wide […]
Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week, the biggest bank failure since Washington Mutual in 2008, two other American banks with significant roles in the housing industry were hit by a deposit run. Signature Bank closed its doors on Sunday, the same day First Republic Bank announced fresh access to capital to fund […]
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has named former Fannie Mae CEO and Blend president Tim Mayopoulos as CEO of Silicon Valley Bank N.A., an FDIC-operated “bridge bank” meant to protect all depositors of the now shut-down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). While the FDIC — an independent government agency that insures bank deposits and overseas […]
Rate and affordability pressures continue to challenge purchase lending, driving homebuyers to alternative loan products. The number of rate locks was down in February from the previous month, but dollar volume rose due to a rate environment that favored non-conforming loans including jumbo loans and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), according to Black Knight’s originations market report. Pipeline […]
Last week was wild, and not just for the housing market. We had a 21st-century bank run on Silicon Valley Bank and then the federal government took action over the weekend to stop the contagion. Mortgage rates fell even though the jobs report was stronger than anticipated. The bank failure spooked bond traders who were […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Friday issued an official request for comment as it conducts a review of Regulation Z’s mortgage loan originator rules. The CFPB is seeking to understand the economic impact the rules have on smaller businesses in the mortgage space. Regulation Z is a broad-based rule that implements the Truth […]
What a week this has been for the housing market, from the fireworks of Fed Chair Jay Powell’s Congressional testimony to an attempt to break over a critical line on the 10-year yield. Then Friday we got solid jobs and labor force growth data and the surprising failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Let’s look at […]
Despite the housing market cool down, homeowners with mortgages, which accounts for roughly 63% of all properties, gained $1 trillion in equity between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2022, according to a report released Thursday by CoreLogic. On average, U.S. homeowners with mortgages gained $14,300 in equity, a jump of […]
This week, the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) released a special report entitled “The Ubiquity of IMB Regulation.” This report is important to independent mortgage banks (like Atlantic Bay Mortgage) that are increasingly dominating mortgage markets and leading the market in serving minority and underserved borrowers. Unfortunately, the growth of IMBs over the last […]
California-based lender Guild Mortgage posted a higher profit in 2022 thanks to its increased purchase mortgage market share — and now has its eyes set on acquiring other lenders. Guild, the purchase-focused lender with a distributed retail model, posted a net income of $328 million in 2022 despite posting a loss of $15 million in […]
Stubborn inflation and high interest rates continue to wreak havoc on the mortgage-origination market, but there is one asset class in the housing market that is arguably flourishing in these hard times – home equity. Along with the solid base of home equity that now exists — a byproduct of the rapid home-price appreciation in recent […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday sued to block the proposed $13 billion merger between Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and rival mortgage software firm Black Knight. The federal agency said the merger would give ICE and Black Knight a significant position in the market for loan origination software, which it could use to push customers […]
Black Knight, Inc. on Thursday announced that mortgage loan sub-servicing provider LoanCare will implement the Black Knight Loss Mitigation solution to support homeowners in need of mortgage payment assistance programs. LoanCare, which services loans for banks, credit unions, independent mortgage companies and portfolio investors, also renewed its contract for Black Knight’s mortgage service software MSP, […]
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell sent a clear message during his U.S. Senate speech on Tuesday morning: Fed officials are likely to deliver higher rate hikes than previously expected to combat persistent inflation. “As I mentioned, the latest economic data have come in stronger than expected, which suggests that the ultimate level of interest rates […]
Like most of its publicly traded peers, Home Point Capital, the parent company of wholesale lender Homepoint, shrank in 2022 to adapt to a shrinking mortgage market. But its cost-cutting initiatives were not enough to return the lender to profitability. The possibility of Home Point being sold isn’t out of the realm of possibility, the company’s […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Wednesday released a special edition of its Supervisory Highlights report that profiles “unlawful junk fees uncovered in deposit accounts and in multiple loan servicing markets,” including among mortgage servicers. “For years, junk fees have been creeping across the economy,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Our report describes a […]
Ohio-headquartered Park National Bank will pay $9 million under a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to resolve allegations that it discriminated against Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Columbus area. The complaint, filed in federal court in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio last month, alleged that Park […]
As the housing market cooled further during the fourth quarter of 2022, homebuilders also continued to pull back on single-family construction. In Q4 2022, the year over year growth rate for single family construction fell across all geographic areas, according to the National Association of Home Builder’s (NAHB) Home Builder’s Geography Index published Tuesday. The […]
Six former employees are suing New Jersey-based Family First Funding, LLC and its three co-founders in a class-action-seeking lawsuit claiming the lender failed to pay them overtime. The plaintiffs worked as processors at the company in different periods from May 2018 through January 2023. The regular workday, according to them, was supposed to follow business office hours […]
It is no secret that the housing market is suffering from an ongoing inventory drought. Existing housing inventory fell by 11,021 homes week over week for the week ending March 6, according to data from Altos Research. While many are hoping new build inventory can at least slightly ameliorate this situation, an analysis from Realtor.com, […]