Despite a drop in mortgage rates last week, mortgage applications decreased 1.2% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Aug. 29, 2025. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 3% compared with last week. “Mortgage rates declined last week, with the […]
The mortgage industry is at a crossroads. As digital transformation accelerates across financial services, borrowers expect faster, more transparent experiences—yet title and closing remain stubbornly manual, fragmented, and slow. For lenders, this disconnect is more than inconvenient; it’s costly. Lengthy cycle times, delayed closings, and inconsistent data flow erode profitability and borrower trust. Mortgage Connect is […]
A new report suggests that counting the value of employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) toward taxable wages could generate about $400 more in annual payroll taxes per worker, shrinking Social Security’s long-term funding gap by roughly 25% in 75 years. The report published Tuesday by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College concludes that the […]
HousingWire today announced the winners of the annual Vanguards award, celebrating its 11th year of recognizing the housing industry’s most influential executives. This year, 100 leaders across mortgage, real estate, and tech have been named to the prestigious list, underscoring their exceptional leadership and impact on the housing economy. “The 2025 HousingWire Vanguards exemplify what […]
Figure Technology Solutions, Inc. on Tuesday announced the launch of its initial public offering (IPO) of 26.3 million shares of Class A common stock in a bid to raise $526 million. The news follows reports in July that the company was preparing to go public in the fall. The IPO news is a win for […]
MegaStar Financial Services announced on Tuesday the appointment of Mickey Schilling, CMB, as its new Chief Revenue Officer. With over 25 years in the mortgage industry, Schilling’s new role will involve driving production, overseeing revenue initiatives and leading the firm’s strategic push into new markets. “Mickey brings a rare blend of strength, leadership, and care,” […]
Welcome back to Tech Pulse — HousingWire‘s weekly series rounding up the latest in technology news, including tools, integrations and trends that impact mortgage and real estate. Here’s what happened this week: The new smart home technology that’s helping seniors age in place With seniors now outnumbering children in many U.S. states, demand is growing for aging-in-place technology. Dr. Jing […]
A long-awaited crackdown on trigger leads is on its way to President Donald Trump’s desk, but not everyone in the mortgage world is celebrating. Nestled in the bill is a provision that’s leading professionals to raise doubts about whether the measure is a consumer safeguard or a competition killer. “The act will require consumers to […]
Federal agents have disrupted a long-running fraud scheme targeting seniors, arresting 25 members of a Chinese criminal gang over the past week. The twist? The agents were assisted by YouTubers who set and sprang the trap on the fraudsters, who are charged with stealing $65 million from seniors nationwide. The criminal group, made up of […]
Credit bureau TransUnion disclosed Wednesday that a July cyberattack compromised the personal data of more than 4.4 million consumers, according to a filing with the Office of the Maine Attorney General. In a letter to affected customers, the company stressed that the breach did not involve its core systems or credit files. Instead, hackers gained […]
Buyers are pulling out of purchase contracts at an alarming rate — reaching an eight-year high in July. HousingWire spoke to several lenders about how they are tackling the problem on the front end to prevent contracts from going south. Experts say the surge in collapsed deals stems from soaring home prices, steep borrowing costs […]
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte issued a second criminal referral against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook on Thursday — the same day Cook filed suit against President Donald Trump for attempting to fire her over mortgage fraud allegations. The second referral centers on a mortgage for a Cambridge, Massachusetts, condominium. Pulte alleges […]
Mortgage lending increased in the second quarter 2025, with nearly 1.76 million residential loans issued nationwide, according to ATTOM’s quarterly mortgage origination report. It was the first time since 2021 that the second quarter saw an annualized increase. The total number from April through June marked a 19.4% rise from the first quarter and a […]
More than a year ago, New American Funding (NAF) launched a new marketing campaign that’s designed to inject a fresh attitude into how consumers view reverse mortgage products. Unlike NAF’s multimillion-dollar forward mortgage campaign, “Hell Yeah You’re Buying a Home,” which was announced last month, the reverse-centric “Old Wives” campaign isn’t something you’ll find on […]
Texans Credit Union launched its first-time homebuyer program on Thursday, introducing three new loan options to spur home purchase activity. The three loan options include: Low down payment mortgages that require as little as 3% down. Flexible-rate loans The “Home Extra 105” package, which finances a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of up to 105% to cover […]
Minority investors in the NBA‘s Phoenix Suns have filed a lawsuit against the team and its majority owner, Mat Ishbia. They allege being denied access to internal records, including those tied to the funding of a practice facility. The lawsuit, filed on Aug. 21 in the Delaware Court of Chancery, comes from Kisco WC Sports […]
The old playbook of financing mainly single-family, site-built homes is getting a radical makeover, and we’re pleased to note that, looking at the numbers, down payment assistance (DPA) programs are leading this charge, allowing buyers to use funds to purchase manufactured homes, multi-family properties and newly constructed homes. Lenders can use DPA to reduce a […]
Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) often get more attention when rates climb, but don’t fool yourself: their actual footprint in the U.S. housing market remains modest. Since a Zero Hedge tweet saying that ARM loans now make up 41% of mortgages held by U.S. banks went viral on Sunday night, the mortgage community has been abuzz with […]
Homeowners who bought in 2025 with the expectation of refinancing may not see savings unless interest rates fall by at least 0.75 percentage points, according to a report released this week by Neighbors Bank. The national analysis modeled typical refinance scenarios across all 50 states using a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage of 6.8%, an average loan […]
About one in four Americans are at least 60 years old, and this group now outnumbers children in 11 states and in nearly half of all U.S. counties. Technological advancements are needed to serve a senior population that overwhelming prefers to age in place. Whether a client needs technology for life-saving reasons or mere convenience, […]
More than half (56%) of homeowners are worried that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Congress in July, will impact their ability to meet student loan payments now or in the future — despite the fact that they’re sitting on record levels of home equity. That’s according to a new report released Tuesday […]
New American Funding (NAF) on Wednesday announced an expansion of its suite of services through the launch of NAF Insurance Services. This new affiliated insurance agency is “designed to help customers secure the right coverage at a competitive price through a streamlined, personalized experience,” a press release from the company stated. The release also said […]
Mortgage applications decreased 0.5% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending August 22, 2025. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 2% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 4% from the previous week and remained 19% higher than […]
Lenders like Rocket Mortgage and UWM have reshaped the mortgage industry. Their massive tech stacks and national footprints allow them to manufacture loans at incredible speed and scale. The rest of the industry has responded by layering automation onto existing workflows in an attempt to keep pace. But the challenge isn’t just about speed. It’s […]
Let’s be real: the last two years have been brutal for a lot of people in our industry. Production’s down. Pipelines are tighter. Good people have left. But if you’re reading this, you’re still here. And that means something. It means this isn’t just a job to you…it’s your business. Your calling. Your legacy.And you’re […]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said Tuesday it has allowed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to approve Rocket Companies’ planned acquisition of Mr. Cooper Group, noting the combined company should not exceed a 20% counterparty risk limit set for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Detroit-based Rocket announced in March that it would acquire Mr. Cooper […]
The Hispanic Organization of Mortgage Experts (HOME) on Tuesday announced the launch of what it claims to be the mortgage industry’s first bilingual learning management system (LMS), HOME Certified, powered by Twiz.io. The organization also introduced Wholesale Search, an AI-powered tool built on ChatGPT that takes mere seconds to match borrowers with lenders who offer […]
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook plans to sue President Donald Trump after he attempted to fire her on Monday, citing allegations of mortgage fraud. The case has renewed concerns over the Fed’s independence and added fresh volatility to financial markets. “President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. His attempt to […]
Planet Financial Group LLC, the parent of national mortgage lender Planet Home Lending, on Tuesday reported strong growth across its servicing, origination and asset management channels in the second quarter of 2025. The company — which also does business under the name Planet Loan Servicing and asset manager Planet Management Group — grew its total […]
Mortgage rates had been moving lower lately, but no one was sure how the financial markets would digest macroeconomic news and an escalating battle at the Federal Reserve. Turns out, rates today are touching the lows we saw last week of 6.52%, according to Mortgage News Daily. “Mortgage rates fell slightly today as mortgage spreads […]
Knock, a real estate technology company that helps homeowners to buy before they sell, on Tuesday announced the close of its inaugural $100 million securitization. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. served as the initial purchaser and bookrunner for the transaction, which closed on Aug. 14 and generated strong demand from well-established institutional investors in residential mortgage-backed […]
Fannie Mae‘s latest Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey points to a growing trend of lenders that want to make the mortgage process and its various components as efficient as possible. In 2025, lenders ranked streamlined business processes, reduced costs and consumer-facing technology as their leading priorities. Every touch point in a mortgage’s life cycle — from […]
The publicly traded companies in the reverse mortgage space were largely profitable in the second quarter of 2025, despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. As a group, they posted $1.2 billion in originations in Q2 2025, compared to $1 billion in the first quarter. Executives pointed to stronger demand for home equity products among seniors, as […]
To continue its goal of national expansion, Evergreen Home Loans announced on Monday that it has entered 11 new states: Texas, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Wyoming, Nebraska, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio and New Mexico. To support this growth, the Bellevue, Washington-based company has hired and promoted several key leaders to strengthen its regional operations. […]
Chase Home Lending announced on Monday the launch of its home equity line of credit (HELOC) product. A representative from Chase confirmed to HousingWire that the company had a HELOC product in the past, but due to uncertain market conditions beginning in 2020, the bank temporarily paused new HELOC applications. “In the time since, we […]
Stripping away decades of precedence and standardized regulation makes compliance a moving target — especially for lenders whose operations span state borders — yet this is exactly what happened earlier this summer. SCOTUS’ impact on the lending landscape The Supreme Court’s June 20th decision in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates, Inc. v. McKesson Corp. ruled that federal […]
Older adults support changing zoning laws to make homebuilding easier, according to new surveys by AARP and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Older adults overwhelmingly want to age in place, but their homes are often unsuited to aging, while rising home prices and a shortage of housing inventory makes it difficult to move. The desire of […]
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium left real estate and mortgage professionals cautiously optimistic. While expectations are building for lower interest rates, volatility remains a concern. In his final address as Fed chair at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual conference, Powell signaled the possibility […]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced this week that it has awarded technology services firm Phoenixteam a $49 million contract to modernize its mortgage underwriting platform, the Guaranteed Underwriting System (GUS). The Arlington, V.A.-based company will overhaul GUS, which supports USDA’s guaranteed loan program for rural and farming communities. Phoenixteam said the updates will […]
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday signaled that the central bank is preparing to resume interest rate cuts soon, warning of growing labor market risks even as inflation remains elevated. In his final speech as Fed chair at the Kansas City Fed’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell stopped short of committing to […]
President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that he intends to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook if she does not resign from her position. “What she did was bad,” the president told reporters who asked about Cook, according to reporting from CNBC and Bloomberg News. Cook, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, has […]
Industry veteran Bill Dallas, chairman of Dallas Capital and former president of Finance of America, says accessory dwelling units (ADUs) still face major hurdles before they can become a reliable solution to what he calls the nation’s “largest social challenge:” affordable housing. “One of the challenges… is that the laws are so difficult and varied […]
WFG National Title Insurance Co. has been added to Fannie Mae’s list of approved title insurers for multifamily transactions. The designation means lenders and borrowers using WFG for Fannie Mae–financed multifamily deals can avoid delays caused by policy exceptions or compliance issues. Fannie Mae requires approved insurers to meet financial strength, quality and coverage standards […]
Attention Mortgage Professionals! You’ve been selected to participate in our exclusive survey on AI in mortgage operations. Your insights are crucial! Click Here As noted at the HousingWire AI Summit, exploring AI solutions is essential. We want to know your journey and strategies in this exciting field. Participate and you could win! You could be […]
CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM), a branch manager in Georgia and a former employee have reached a settlement in a sexual harassment lawsuit, according to court filings. The case began in June 2023 when former processor Christina Nielsen alleged that branch manager Steven Bocca subjected her and other female employees to sexual comments, unwanted touching and inappropriate […]