A former corporate attorney is accusing Michigan-based United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) of retaliation and wrongful termination after he refused to sign attorney opinion letters (AOLs) in states where he was not licensed. The plaintiff claims the requirement stemmed from a policy change implemented in November. A spokesperson for UWM said in a statement to HousingWire […]
A federal judge in New York has consolidated multiple lawsuits stemming from a data breach at SitusAMC Holdings Corp. in November 2025, combining a newly filed case with an existing class-action suit to streamline proceedings. On Wednesday, Judge Lewis J. Liman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted an […]
With mortgage rates expected to remain flat for the foreseeable future, lenders of all sizes are looking for creative ways to attract creditworthy borrowers who may not fit into the conventional loan box. Below are four trends that will enable lenders to expand their reach to new borrowers in 2026: Non-QM lending goes mainstream A […]
Two Ohio state representatives are supporting legislation they say will establish clear statewide protections against property tax‑related foreclosures for the state’s senior homeowners. Reps. David Thomas (R) and Adam Mathews (R) highlighted H.B. 443, known as the Senior Protection from Foreclosure Act, during a news conference Wednesday. The bill would bar counties from enforcing property […]
Foreclosure filings were reported on 367,460 U.S. properties in 2025, up 14% from 2024 and up 3% from 2023. Foreclosure filings in 2025 were also down 87% from a peak of nearly 2.9 million in 2010. That’s according to ATTOM‘s Year-End 2025 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, released Thursday, which is based on publicly recorded and […]
The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) is pushing back against proposals to allow a single-bureau credit pull in mortgage underwriting, as Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte presses for changes aimed at increasing competition in the use of credit scores. In a white paper published Wednesday, CHLA argued that the three main […]
Freddie Mac‘s multifamily division reported Thursday that its 2025 production volume totaled $77.6 billion, a 17% increase from 2024. The government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) said it supported 577,000 affordable rental units across the U.S. while “maintaining strong safety and soundness standards.” Production for the year included $1.2 billion in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) equity investments, […]
Mortgage rate-lock activity ended 2025 stronger than typical holiday season patterns, according to Optimal Blue‘s December 2025 Market Advantage mortgage data report released on Tuesday. Total lock volume rose 2% from November and finished 30% higher than a year earlier, driven largely by rate-and-term refinances, which increased 13% month over month and more than 170% […]
Mortgage applications for new home purchases rose 2.5% in December 2025 from a year earlier, according to data released Thursday in the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s Builder Application Survey. Applications fell 3% compared to November 2025 without any seasonal adjustment. “December purchase activity for newly built homes continued to run stronger than last year, despite […]
Affordability pressures, elevated mortgage rates, and homeowner rate lock-in have pushed once-fringe mortgage ideas back into the spotlight. Concepts such as 50-year mortgages, portable mortgages, and assumable loans are being discussed as potential solutions. Some are misunderstood. Others already exist in limited form. A few, however, come with tradeoffs that warrant closer examination. For lenders, […]
New View Advisors on Tuesday published the newest installment of its Proprietary Reverse Mortgage Production Index, which showed that private-label reverse mortgages are continuing to become a preferred product among lenders and borrowers. The company estimated that proprietary loan volume totaled $250 million in December 2025, $730 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 and […]
Kind Lending announced multiple leadership changes this week as company co-founder Yvonne Ketchum moves from the president role’s to a part-time role as president emeritus and executive adviser as she begins semi-retirement. As a result, chief operating officer Jennifer Folk will assume the role of president and Stephanie Gibbons has been promoted to COO. Before […]
Shares in publicly traded mortgage insurance companies dropped between 5% to 8% in a single day and are down by 5% to 12% so far this year, according to an investor note published Tuesday by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW). KBW analysts Bose George and Frankie Labetti explained that the main concern appears to be tied […]
Wells Fargo on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter 2025 net income of $5.36 billion, or $1.62 per diluted share, as the bank posted stronger loan growth, solid credit performance and continued expense discipline following the removal of a long-standing Federal Reserve asset cap. But the numbers still fell short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations of $1.66 per […]
Multichannel mortgage lender Lower announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Acopia Home Loans, expanding its footprint across the Southeast and adding more than $425 million in annual loan production. The acquisition brings 14 branch locations and 36 mortgage originators to Lower, which describes itself as one of the fastest-growing, fintech-driven homeownership platforms. The deal follows a […]
Mortgage applications increased 28.5% from one week earlier, following President Donald Trump’s directive to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds. That’s according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending January 9, 2026. Last week’s results included an adjustment for the […]
NEXA Lending announced on Wednesday that it has appointed Todd Bitter as national director of sales, the latest in a series of strategic leadership hires by the company. Bitter, who most recently held the role of chief sales officer at UMortgage, brings over 30 years of experience as a loan officer and executive leader, with […]
Retirement is widely portrayed as the reward for decades of work, but many Americans who have already stopped working say that promise is slipping out of reach. Rising costs and inadequate savings are reshaping expectations — and fueling fears — about life after work, according to findings from a recent Clever Real Estate survey. Clever […]
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) is urging the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to end its “life of loan” mortgage insurance rule and let borrowers cancel premiums once they’ve paid down their loan to 78% of their home’s value. NAMB believes the policy is outdated and unfair. Current rules mean that many FHA borrowers […]
Mortgage trade groups are closely monitoring a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would raise fees on Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mortgages to help fund other veterans’ benefits. The Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act of 2025 (H.R. 6047) — introduced in November by Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) and […]
American Pride Bank announced on Tuesday that it’s expanding its one-time-close construction loan programs through its wholesale mortgage division, APB Wholesale, by adding new options aimed at self-employed borrowers, entrepreneurs and real estate investors. In a press release, the bank explained that the expanded product suite is designed to give mortgage brokers more flexibility when […]
For the first time in months, mortgage rates made significant downward progress last week. But the question for housing professionals is whether the trend will last. Mortgage News Daily reported Monday that the average 30-year fixed-rate loan averaged 6.01%, down 18 basis points in the past week. MND data shows that rates haven’t been this […]
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman is floating a proposal that suggests mortgage rates could be lowered by limiting borrowers’ ability to refinance or prepay mortgages. Ackman said on Jan. 10 on social media platform X that adding prepayment penalties to new mortgages could reduce interest rates by roughly 65 basis points (bps). The post addressed President […]
Newrez plans to recognize cryptocurrency assets in the mortgage qualification process without requiring borrowers to liquidate their holdings, the company announced Tuesday. The option will be available in February across the lender’s nonagency Smart Series product suite. While assets such as stocks and bonds are commonly considered in mortgage underwriting without liquidation, many lenders still […]
Snapdocs announced Tuesday a new integration with MeridianLink’s cloud-based consumer loan origination system that allows lenders to originate and close home equity loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) entirely within the MeridianLink Consumer platform. The integration enables lenders to complete digital closings — including hybrid, eNote and fully digital transactions — using remote […]
In today’s digital-first environment, administrative access is essential to keeping real estate, title insurance, and mortgage operations running smoothly. From managing core production systems to supporting secure transaction workflows, administrators play a critical role behind the scenes. However, administrative access also represents one of the most significant cybersecurity risks facing organizations today. With elevated privileges […]
Skyrocketing health care costs are threatening early retirement dreams for millions of Americans. Enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies expired at the end of 2025 — leaving 24 million people facing a sharp rise in health insurance costs unless Congress acts. Middle-income Americans ages 50 to 64 are most at risk, according to KFF data […]
Following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s disclosure on Sunday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued grand jury subpoenas to the central bank, the investigation has triggered political backlash on Capitol Hill. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said he backs Powell and accused the DOJ of threatening the […]
Figure Technology Solutions reported that its loan origination system produced $2.705 billion in volume during the fourth quarter of 2025, up 131% from the same period a year earlier, according to preliminary operating data released Monday. Compared to the prior quarter, the volume increased 9.5%. The volume was driven by the company’s consumer loan marketplace, which […]
Federal agencies are walking back a 2023 warning that credit policies tied to an applicant’s immigration or citizenship status could conflict with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B, saying the guidance created confusion among lenders. In October 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a […]
For the past several years, the U.S. housing market has faced an unusual constraint: not a lack of buyers, but a lack of sellers willing — or able — to move. Millions of homeowners remain “rate-locked,” holding mortgages originated in 2020–2022 at interest rates between 2% and 4% (Federal Housing Finance Agency; Freddie Mac Primary […]
Jobs Friday came and went without much reaction in bond yields because the labor market isn’t breaking, nor is it getting stronger. Mortgage rates dropped into the 5s for a short time on Friday as a result of Trump’s earlier announcement directing the GSEs to buy $200 billion in mortgage backed securities. The 10-year yield […]
Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, stoked debate about the future of retirement savings by saying that in the coming years, traditional retirement planning could become “irrelevant” amid technological advances. “One side recommendation I have is: Don’t worry about squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years,” Musk said on […]
It finally happened today: We got mortgage rates under 6% for a short time. Can we get some traction for that level? Well, one aspect of the mortgage-rate story really improved today; we had a monster day in mortgage spreads, improving overnight to push rates down over 20 basis points without much help from the […]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac quietly increased their purchases of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in 2025, helping push mortgage spreads lower toward the year’s end. Most analysts, however, were not expecting further meaningful tightening in the near term — at least until this week. That changed Thursday after President Donald Trump posted on social media that […]
The ongoing litigation between the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) and Katie Sweeney is moving to a Michigan court, according to documents filed on Friday. In an order signed Thursday, the court granted the parties’ agreed-upon motion to change venues, shifting the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan […]
Despite several years of volatility in the housing market, the fix-and-flip sector — where investors rehabilitate, reposition, and upgrade residential properties — has shown resilience and is poised for meaningful growth in 2026. While only recently becoming recognized as a formal institutionally rated asset class, the underlying strategy is anything but new. For decades, local […]
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is directing representatives at the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to purchase $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS), a move he said is intended to bring mortgage rates down. “Because I chose not to sell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in my First Term, a truly great decision, and against […]
MeridianLink and Optimal Blue announced Wednesday that they’ve reached an agreement to integrate their technology platforms, with the joint solution expected to be available to customers in early 2026. Under the partnership, mortgage users of MeridianLink’s loan origination system will gain access to Optimal Blue’s real-time product, pricing and eligibility (PPE) engine. The integration is […]
Singapore-based investment firm Temasek has closed a $150 million investment in a fund managed by real estate lending platform Roc360, the companies announced Thursday. The capital will be allocated to an investment vehicle focused on residential transition loans used to finance home renovations. Temasek, which manages a $324 billion investment portfolio, first partnered with Roc360 […]
Laura Brandao announced on social media this week that she’s embarking on a new professional endeavor at MLB Residential Lending as its president of wholesale and correspondent lending. In a conversation with HousingWire, Brandao said that she’d been in a consultant’s role for MLB — which stands for Making Lives Better — since March 2025. […]
In an industry often tethered to the patchwork systems of the past, true institutional growth requires more than a software update. It requires a foundational shift. Today, Kind Lending, the national mortgage powerhouse founded by industry icon Glenn Stearns, announced a strategic partnership with CANDID to execute exactly that: a comprehensive modernization of its operational […]
A wave of recent proposals from think tanks across the ideological spectrum argue that the ultimate solution for keeping Social Security viable lies in fundamentally changing how the program works. According to federal actuaries, Social Security’s trust funds are projected to be depleted by 2032. If Congress takes no action, benefits would be cut across […]
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is moving to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, framing the proposal as a way to improve housing affordability. “I am immediately taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes, and I will be calling on Congress to codify it. People live […]
Finance of America (FOA) maintained its position as the top issuer of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage-backed Securities (HMBS) in 2025, underscoring significant changes in the reverse mortgage securitization market over the past decade. FOA issued $1.87 billion in HMBS last year, capturing roughly 30% of total market share, according to league tables compiled by New […]