General World News

Rates jump to 5.78%, the largest 1-week increase since 1987

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Purchase mortgage rates climbed 55 basis points, reflecting surging inflation and the Federal Reserve‘s (The Fed) tightening monetary policy. According to the latest Freddie Mac PMMS, purchase mortgage rates this week averaged 5.78%, compared to 5.23% the week prior. A year ago at this time, 30-year fixed rate purchase rates were at 2.93%. “Mortgage rates surged as the […]

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3 tips to grow your mortgage broker business

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Whenever people want to get a mortgage, they search for professionals who can streamline the process. That’s precisely when your mortgage broker business comes to the rescue. In this article, you will find tips on how to grow your business, as well as five big mistakes that you may be making in the process. Ways […]

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FHFA wants GSE pricing tweaks and counterparty exam authority

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s pricing frameworks may see changes to better serve “core mission borrowers,” according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The regulator also, again, argued for examination authority over entities doing business with the government-sponsored enterprises. In its annual report to Congress, FHFA said it instructed the enterprises to “begin updating […]

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Logan Mohtashami: “biggest affordability hit in our lifetime”

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In this HW+ Slack Q&A, HousingWire Lead Analyst Logan Mohtashami answers questions from our HW+ member community. Mohtashami focused on the latest inventory and the Federal Reserve’s rate hike announcement. As a member of HW+, you get access to 30-minute Slack Q&As, where we invite the HW Media newsroom to break down the hottest topics in the industry. This […]

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As mortgage rates skyrocketed in May, ARMs doubled

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A panel of experts assembled at a recent Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) conference in New York predicted that adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) will become far more popular this year as purchase mortgages increasingly dominate a housing market contending with fast-rising interest rates. A June market report by a major digital mortgage-exchange and loan-aggregator, MAXEX, which offers an […]

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ARMs race: adjustable-rate mortgages make a comeback

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In 2021, more than 90% of borrowers who closed a loan with fintech mortgage lender Neat Loans opted for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. But this year, as rates have crested 6%, about 70% of Neat’s originations are adjustable-rate mortgages, a product that until recently had fallen out of favor due to the role they played […]

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Just before the shockwave, mortgage applications rose

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Before the volatility wrought by high inflation and speculation about a rate hike by the Federal Reserve, mortgage applications increased 6.6% from the prior week, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association survey for the week ending June 10. Refinancing applications increased 4% from the prior week but were still 76% lower than the same […]

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Loan mod scheme from 2009 finally gets settled at $4.6M

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Owners of a Florida-based law firm were ordered to pay close to $4.6 million to settle claims that they allegedly ran a mortgage loan modification and foreclosure rescue scheme that targeted Hispanic homeowners. The consent order puts an end to a lawsuit originally launched by the Department of Justice in 2018 against law firm Advocate […]

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Compass and Redfin make cuts amid volatile market

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On Tuesday, the other shoe dropped. With mortgage rates now north of 6% and the stock market officially in bear territory, two of America’s most prominent real estate brokerages instituted large-scale layoffs and halted expansion efforts. Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said the brokerage/listings platform made the tough decision to lay off 470 workers across several […]

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GSEs further expand AVMs, desktop and hybrid appraisals

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The Federal Housing Finance Agency released voluminous plans last week developed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make the housing market more equitable, in part through changes to the appraisal process. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s equitable housing finance plans further expand non-traditional property appraisals, which sometimes rely on property tax information, data collected […]

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Fannie Mae introduces Refinance Application-Level Index

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Fannie Mae aims to track refinance activity and refinance application trends through its newly launched Refinance Application-Level Index (RALI). The RALI, which sources data from Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter to show the past week’s refinance application trends and prepayment projections, will publish each Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST, according to Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae’s new […]

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Mortgages delinquency rates trended down in March

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Mortgage delinquency rates in March fell below the 3% mark, reaching another historic low as a strong labor market and income growth drove down the number of property owners who are late on their mortgage payments.  About 2.7% of all mortgages in the U.S. were delinquent in March, dropping 2.2 percentage points from the 4.9% […]

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Fannie Mae transfers more risk to insurers with sixth CIRT deal 

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Fannie Mae has executed its sixth Credit Insurance Risk Transfer (CIRT) deal of 2022, providing up to $725 million in mortgage-risk coverage as part of the agency’s ongoing effort to share risk with private-sector insurers. CIRT 2022-6 involves a covered loan pool composed of 63,000 single-family mortgages with a total unpaid principal balance of about $19.3 […]

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Non-QM players still doing PLS deals despite rate volatility

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Non-QM lender Angel Oak Cos., through its mortgage-backed securities conduit Angel Mortgage Trust, is out with its fourth private-label securities offering of 2022, even as rate volatility in the market continues to throw sand in the market’s gears. The recent offering, AOMT 2022-4, involves a pool of 407 mortgages valued at $217.2 million and includes primarily non-QM […]

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FHFA watchdog has a plan for the next 4 years

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The watchdog tasked with oversight of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) laid out its strategic priorities for the next four years. Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General will carry out oversight to make sure FHFA ensures the safety and soundness of the entities it regulates and is an effective conservator of Fannie […]

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About 82% of origination comes from purchase mortgages

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Overall mortgage rate lock took a hit in May, led by a drop in refinance activity, both for rate-term refis and cash-outs. In a higher rate environment, lenders were more reliant on the purchase market for origination volumes. Rate locks were down 4.8% last month, according to Black Knight’s monthly mortgage originations market report. Purchase […]

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Lenders, tech firms hire executives to navigate downmarket

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Lenders and mortgage tech companies have been cutting costs in the downmarket, but some firms have hired new executives who they hope will provide better strategies to navigate the shrinking loan origination market. Motto Mortgage, a national mortgage brokerage franchise, and wemlo, a mortgage processing solution with an all-in-one digital platform, tapped Chris Erickson as vice […]

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Investors from 3 Asian nations have heartiest appetite for U.S. MBS

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The Federal Reserve’s (Fed) efforts to beat back inflation with its monetary tools have already shifted the winds in the secondary market for mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The Fed’s continuing effort to wind down its $2.7 trillion MBS portfolio helps fuel widening interest-rate spreads in the MBS market by creating additional MBS supply to be absorbed by investors. […]

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Doorway Home Loans to merge with Priority Mortgage

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Mortgage lenders Doorway Home Loans and Priority Mortgage Thursday announced a merger, the latest of many such deals made during a challenging mortgage market. The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement.  Both companies have more than 30 years of experience in residential direct lending, but want to expand market reach and […]

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RenoFi targets homeowners who don’t qualify for HELOCs

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Renovation financing startup RenoFi now offers a fixed-rate home renovation loan, which allows homeowners to borrow as much as 90% of their home’s after-renovation value — a move to target homeowners who don’t qualify for a home equity line of credit (HELOCs). With a fixed rate for as many as 20 years, RenoFi’s fixed-rate home equity […]

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Home equity skyrocketed during the first quarter of 2022

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A recently published CoreLogic report found homeowners with mortgages in the first quarter of 2022 saw their equity grow by 32.2% year-over-year. According to the data vendor, the collective equity gain was $3.8 trillion in the first quarter, or an average gain of $63,600 per borrower. CoreLogic said homeowners with mortgages account for roughly 60% […]

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Fannie Mae to sell $1.6B reperforming loan pool

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Fannie Mae has unveiled its third reperforming loan sale of the year, an offering of nearly 10,000 loans valued at $1.57 billion. The offering, dubbed FNMA 2022-RPL3, represents the agency’s 26th sale of reperforming loans since the inaugural offering in October 2016, which involved a pool of 3,600 reperforming loans valued at about $806 million. […]

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Purchase mortgage rates jump to 5.23% Freddie Mac PMMS shows

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After falling for three consecutive weeks, purchase mortgage rates jumped 14 basis points, reflecting the expectation that the Federal Reserve (The Fed) will maintain its tightening monetary policy to fight inflationary pressures. According to the latest Freddie Mac PMMS, purchase mortgage rates this week averaged 5.23%, compared to 5.09% the week prior. A year ago at this […]

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With landmark GSE equity plans, FHFA confronts legacy of redlining

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The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), under the leadership of Director Sandra Thompson, on Wednesday unveiled landmark equitable housing finance plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The plans establish a flexible framework for the government-sponsored enterprises to address barriers to sustainable housing and close the racial homeownership gap. The 2022 to 2024 plans will […]

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Xactus targets lenders through active listing data

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Verification solutions provider Xactus wants to court more lenders through its active listing data in a tight housing market. Xactus Wednesday announced its new active listing scan program, which will scan residential addresses for changes in listing status and the average number of days on market for a neighborhood. The monitoring program, covering all 50 […]

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CHLA takes antitrust concerns about ICE/ Black Knight merger to DOJ

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The planned merger between Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and Black Knight may be subject to scrutiny from the Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over antitrust concerns raised by the Community Home Lenders Association. In its Wednesday letter to the DOJ, CHLA claimed the small and midsize independent mortgage banks it represents would […]

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“It’s math:” How mortgage solutions companies are fighting for survival

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#2022 ” data-image-caption=” Digital mortgage, mortgage tech, eclosing, RON ” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/newsroom-template_digitalmortgage.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/newsroom-template_digitalmortgage.png?w=1024″ width=”1200″ height=”700″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/newsroom-template_digitalmortgage.png?w=1024″ alt=”Digital mortgage, technology” class=”wp-image-342385″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/newsroom-template_digitalmortgage.png 1200w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/newsroom-template_digitalmortgage.png?resize=150,88 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/newsroom-template_digitalmortgage.png?resize=300,175 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/newsroom-template_digitalmortgage.png?resize=768,448 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/newsroom-template_digitalmortgage.png?resize=1024,597 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/newsroom-template_digitalmortgage.png?resize=600,350 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”>With a deadly combination of low housing inventory, reduction in refis and surging mortgage rates, consolidation in mortgage tech is expected.  […]

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VanDyk Mortgage to expand servicing operations using Black Knight system

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VanDyk Mortgage Corporation has signed a contract to use Black Knight‘s MSP system to expand its servicing operations, the company announced Wednesday. Black Knight, which provides integrated technology, services, data and analytics to the mortgage lending, servicing and real estate industries, has contracts providing its MSP servicing system to companies, such as multi-channel fintech platform […]

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Mortgage apps decline 6.5% to 22-year low

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Mortgage application volume for the week ending June 3 dropped 6.5%, sliding to the lowest level in 22 years, driven by weakness in purchase and refinance applications. Despite the recent decline in mortgage rates, they were not low enough to spur refinance activity, which led to the decline of the Mortgage Bankers Association‘s (MBA’s) Market […]

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Freddie Mac unveils offer for up to $2.2B in CRT notes

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Freddie Mac has announced a cash tender offer for some $2.2 billion in outstanding notes across eight vintage credit-risk transfer (CRT) transactions conducted through the agency’s Structured Agency Credit Risk, or STACR, program. The offering price for the notes outstanding in the current offering, STACR 2022-TO2, ranges from $1,000.63 to $1,017.81 per thousand dollars of outstanding principal […]

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Almost 80% believe it’s a bad time to buy property

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Consumers’ concerns about housing affordability are squeezing would-be homebuyers out of the market, according to Fannie Mae‘s Home Purchasing Sentiment Index, which tracks the housing market and consumer confidence to sell or buy a home. The index score dropped by 0.3 points to 68.2 in May, inching toward its 10-year and pandemic-low of 63, recorded […]

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Frank Nothaft, economist with “inimitable style,” has died

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Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic and before that, the top economist at Freddie Mac, has died. He was 66. At CoreLogic, Nothaft headed the office of the economist, providing analysis, commentary and forecasting trends in global real estate, insurance and mortgage markets. Prior to joining CoreLogic in 2015, Nothaft had a nearly 30-year career […]

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Figure and Homebridge cancel planned merger

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Figure Technologies co-founder and CEO Mike Cagney ” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Mike-Cagney-HW.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Mike-Cagney-HW.jpg?w=1024″ width=”1207″ height=”700″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Mike-Cagney-HW.jpg?w=1024″ alt=”Mike Cagney – HW+” class=”wp-image-318432″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Mike-Cagney-HW.jpg 1207w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Mike-Cagney-HW.jpg?resize=150,87 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Mike-Cagney-HW.jpg?resize=300,174 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Mike-Cagney-HW.jpg?resize=768,445 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Mike-Cagney-HW.jpg?resize=1024,594 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Mike-Cagney-HW.jpg?resize=600,348 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1207px) 100vw, 1207px”>Figure Technologies co-founder and CEO Mike Cagney Fintech lender Figure Technologies and multichannel originator Homebridge Financial Services last August announced a merger that they claimed would usher in monumental […]

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These mortgage lenders have cut jobs in 2022

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#2022 ” data-image-caption=”” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?w=1024″ width=”1200″ height=”700″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?w=1024″ alt=”2022 Layoff” class=”wp-image-335200″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png 1200w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?resize=150,88 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?resize=300,175 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?resize=768,448 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?resize=1024,597 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?resize=600,350 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”> It’s a tough time for mortgage lenders. A rapid rise in mortgage rates and a big drop in origination volume has led to thousands of industry job losses […]

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Industry supports FHA’s 40-year loan term option — with caveats

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The deadline for the mortgage industry to chime in on the Federal Housing Administration‘s (FHA) proposed 40-year loan modification rule was at the end of May. While four prominent trade groups voiced support, they also proposed some tweaks. The Mortgage Bankers Association, Housing Policy Council, National Association of REALTORS and the American Bankers Association agreed […]

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Do the GSEs need to start thinking about non-QM borrowers?

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Over the next decade, the distinction between non-QM and QM loans will be blurred and the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) may have to accommodate the growing market of non-W2 borrowers. That is what mortgage executives and analysts forecasted for the non-QM market on Friday during IMN’s third annual Non-QM Forum in California as they took note […]

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Regulators aligned on “once in a generation” CRA rewrite

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Two years ago, the regulator of the nation’s biggest banks moved alone to rewrite the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), the country’s premier anti-redlining law. That effort, under the Trump administration, ultimately fizzled. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency formally rescinded its plan in December of 2021. In an example of how dramatically the […]

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Mr. Cooper cuts more jobs as origination outlook dims

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Top-10 residential lender and servicer Mr. Cooper has cut another 420 jobs, the second major layoff it has made this year. In a disclosure made public Thursday afternoon, the company said the cuts amounted to 5% of its employee base. Most of the job losses will hit the originations side of the business. About 16% […]