The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) late last week released two comment letters expressing the association’s agreement with proposed rules on bolstering borrower protections for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing for home renovations. A CUNA letter was aimed at expressing its support to financial services companies, with an additional letter adding its individual comments […]
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Monday published a newly-proposed rule in the Federal Register that would allow mortgage servicers to use telephonic or other electronic means to communicate with a distressed borrower, in a way that is most likely to yield a response. “[T]his rule proposes to update HUD’s current […]
Mike Cagney’s Figure Technologies laid off 20% of its staff and plans to take its profitable lending business public next year, Bloomberg reported. About half of the workers laid off last week were engineers and this was the first round of staff reductions for the company, according to the outlet. ”Last Friday I found out […]
Rocket Companies announced major leadership changes on Monday. The company appointed Varun Krishna, a veteran in the financial technology world who held executive positions at Intuit and PayPal, as its new CEO. In addition, Bob Walters has informed the board of directors of his intention to retire from his role as CEO of Rocket Mortgage and president and Chief Operating Officer […]
As we can see below, Tracking housing inventory this summer is like watching a zombie slowly walking on the beach. Last week inventory growth dropped and new listing data declined again. Strong labor data pushed up mortgage rates and purchase applications fell week to week. Weekly active listings rose by only 4,988 Mortgage rates rose […]
JPMorgan Chase will buy nearly $2 billion worth of mortgages to grease Banc of California‘s purchase of PacWest Bancorp, Bloomberg reported. The bank entered into an agreement to buy $1.8 billion of single-family residential loans at a discount, according to the outlet. Banc of California and PacWest announced on Tuesday an all-stock merger with a […]
Mauricio Umansky‘s residential brokerage The Agency is venturing into core services. Through partnerships with Bubble Insurance Solutions and New American Funding, real estate agents at The Agency will have access to mortgage lending services and insurance services for their clients. With Bubble Insurance Services, The Agency is launching its own affiliate insurance service, Agencia Insurance […]
Ex-workers took action in a New York court this week to ensure that a $3.5 million settlement with Sprout Mortgage for unpaid wages goes through. It follows a request from the shuttered lender to halt the agreement due to an involuntary bankruptcy petition filed by three creditors. New Wave Lending Group, JMJ Financial Group and EF Mortgage filed on July 5 an […]
Austin, Texas-based OJO promoted industry veteran Chris Heller to president while Jerimiah Taylor will move into the chief real estate officer role that Heller held. The moves come amid OJO’s continued growth in 2023, which the company attributes to is OJO Pro+ offering. Heller, who has held leadership roles at Keller Williams and loanDepot‘s mellohome, […]
California-based Pennymac Financial Services increased its profits by 92% in the second quarter of 2023 from the prior quarter. Although the performance was propelled by its servicing portfolio – as occurred in previous quarters – mortgage production returned to profitability. The company reported on Thursday its net income came in at $58.3 million in Q2 2023, up […]
The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) on Thursday sent a letter to Sandra Thompson, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), urging the slower implementation of changes to the credit score reporting process. The letter, which was also sent to the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, expresses appreciation to FHFA for […]
About two years after Better.com announced its plans to go public via special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Aurora Acquisitions Corp., the fate of Better.com’s journey to IPO will be decided next month. “Aurora shareholders will be asked to consider and vote upon a proposal (…) to approve and adopt the agreement and plan of merger […]
Mortgage rates rose slightly this week ahead of the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee‘s rate hike. The 25-basis point increase to the federal funds rate was widely anticipated and priced in by capital markets. Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, which focuses on conventional and conforming loans with a 20% down payment, shows the 30-year […]
After a year’s worth of warnings about a recession, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the central bank’s staff no longer forecasts a nationwide economic downturn. It’s welcome news for the economy to achieve a soft landing, a scenario in which inflation falls, unemployment remains relatively low and a recession is avoided. Housing […]
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), the country’s largest wholesale lender, expanded its debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) loan options to four after launching its first product in March. Dubbed “Investors Flex,” the non-QM product for real estate investors, offered purchase and refinance loans up to $2 million that could be used to finance up to 20 […]
The Federal Reserve (Fed) raised the federal funds rate 25 basis points to the 5.25 to 5.5% range on Wednesday, its highest level in 22 years. While the markets have already “priced in” this rate hike, which was widely expected, most investors are already wondering what it would take for the central bank to lift […]
Add Guaranteed Rate to the list of lenders offering down payment assistance programs to target first-time homebuyers facing historic affordability challenges. The Chicago-headquartered lender released OneDown — a mortgage loan that allows customers to buy a home with a minimum down payment of 1% of the purchase price. G-Rate will provide 2% of the required […]
As mortgage rates remained stubbornly high last week, hovering around 6.87%, mortgage applications fell from a week prior. For the week that ended July 21, mortgage applications fell 1.8% from the prior week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. “Mortgage rates were essentially flat last week but remained high, with the 30-year fixed staying at […]
Also released on Tuesday, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index indicated that home prices rose month-over-month for the fourth consecutive time in May. However, this decade-long rally in U.S. home prices could finally come to an end, said Robert Shiller, professor of economics at Yale University yesterday on U.S. house prices rose slightly in […]
Home prices showed resilience in May as buyers took advantage of the relatively lower rates during that month, keeping the pressure on available inventory. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index posted a 0.7% month-over-month increase after a seasonal adjustment in May — marking the fourth consecutive monthly increase. The 10-city composite gained 1.1% and […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) looks poised to settle on the merger deal with Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) and Black Knight, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) said in a note following the postponement of the preliminary injunction to August from this week. ICE and Black Knight’s agreement to sell its product and pricing engine unit […]
Rithm Capital Corp., the real estate investment trust that operates NewRez, Caliber and several other businesses, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sculptor Capital Management Inc. for $639 million, the company announced on Monday. The deal, if approved by regulators, will bring to Rithm Sculptor’s $34 billion of assets under management, including real estate, credit and multi-strategy investing spectrum. To […]
As you can see below, the slope of the housing inventory curve from the seasonal bottom on April 14 has been slow enough that active listings have turned negative year over year. However, last year was very abnormal: We had the biggest one-year sales crash ever, working from the lowest active listings data in March […]
Lifting a ban on mortgage lenders providing down payment assistance (DPA) to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) borrowers would help underserved borrowers become homeowners, according to a paper published by the Urban Institute. Under the FHA Modernization Act of 2008, sellers, lenders and others with a financial interest in a real estate transaction are prohibited from […]
Citywide Home Loans, a Utah-based mortgage lending company, agreed to settle a $1.2 million class action lawsuit to resolve claims surrounding a 2020 data breach. The news was first reported by legal website Top Class Action. The company, which has more than 800 employees and operates in 35 states, is accused of negligence for failing […]
Months of high mortgage rates and low existing inventory led to another annual increase in new home purchases in June. Mortgage applications for new home purchases jumped 26.1% in June from the same period last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association builder application survey. Compared with the prior month, applications dropped by 5%. MBA […]
Rumors this week that regulators would increase residential mortgage capital requirements for larger depositary banks, far exceeding international standards under the Basel III rules, have raised alarms for industry executives, analysts and trade groups. The consensus is that the change would primarily affect the shrinking jumbo market (loans greater than $726,200) and hurt regional banks, […]
The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) has compiled a new document it is calling the “consumer mortgage bill of rights,” based on a series of different actions and proposals it has made to companies and federal agencies including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Federal Housing Finance Agency […]
Lenders point to cost-cutting as their top business priority amid the mortgage industry facing a number of challenges – including high home prices, tight inventory of homes available for sale and interest rate hikes. About 35% of the 253 mortgage executives that responded to Fannie Mae’s mortgage lender sentiment survey (MLSS) said cost cutting was […]
With elevated mortgage rates sidelining both home buyers and sellers, existing home sales fell in June, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Sales were also down significantly from a year prior. Total existing home sales slipped 3.3% in June from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate […]
The mortgage industry continues to rightsize, and On Q Financial is taking it as an opportunity to expand through loan officer recruitment and tapping into its network of homebuilders. On Q Financial hired 100 loan officers over the past two months, bringing the total number to about 250, CEO Patrick Lamb said in an interview […]
The lack of existing homes for sale on the market is driving a resurgence of home-price growth and supporting increases in new home construction, according to Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) group. “The extent of the ongoing lack of inventory has exceeded our prior expectation,” the ESR group said in its July commentary. […]
Go Mortgage sued its former director of capital markets for “corporate sabotage,” alleging computer fraud, violation of trade secrets, breach of contract and tortious interference with a business relationship. The lender claims actions by Katie Chikonde cost the lender millions of dollars. Chikonde, who was hired in January 2021, managed Go Mortgage’s warehouse lines, pricing, […]
The United States Senate on Tuesday passed the Tribal Trust Land Homeownership Act of 2023 via unanimous consent, and will now make its way to the House of Representatives for deliberation. In response, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) applauded the move. The bill, introduced in January by a bipartisan coalition of five senators, would “require […]
The dour housing market over the past 18 months has thrust struggling independent mortgage lenders (IMBs) into what seems like a pot of water that is coming slowly to a boil. As the heat rises, so too does the number of lenders seeking to exit the market. The trajectory of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals […]
Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, the fourth-largest U.S. mortgage lender, is laying off staffers in its mortgage division this week, a spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday. The announcement follows a decline in its mortgage originations in the first quarter of 2023 – the second-quarter earnings will be released on Wednesday morning. The current jobs cut also comes amid rumors […]
Denver, Colorado-based Maxwell, a mortgage fintech solutions platform, has announced that product development veteran Paul Wetzel has joined the company as senior vice president of product. Wetzel brings extensive experience in B2B and B2B2C software product leadership, mortgage-specific market strategy and company growth in various industries. In his new role, Wetzel will focus on enhancing […]
Bank of America (BofA), a top-20 U.S. mortgage lender, reported on Tuesday significant improvements to its home loan business in the second quarter of 2023, just as competitors JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo did late last week. But executives at all three banks expect some major regulatory headwinds. Rumors are that large banks would see residential mortgage capital requirements that […]
For the seventh consecutive month, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) report rose month-over-month, gaining one-point to a reading of 56, according to a report released Tuesday. This is the index’s highest reading since June 2022. The NAHB/HMI report is based on a monthly survey of NAHB members, in which homebuilders are asked to rate […]
The share of mortgage loans in forbearance decreased by five basis points in June 2023 relative to May 2023 to 0.44% from 0.49%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) monthly Loan Monitoring Survey. Since March 2020, mortgage servicers have provided forbearance to approximately 7.9 million borrowers and 220,000 homeowners are currently in forbearance plans. […]
Angelo Robert Mozilo, the founder of Countrywide Financial, died from natural causes this weekend, his family announced. He was 84 years old. Mozilo was a pioneer of the mortgage industry, though a deeply controversial figure. “Independent of how people outside of the industry may perceive this man, insiders know what an incredible force he was,” his […]
Duncan continued: “With the 30-year mortgage rate once again approaching 7%, it’s yet to be seen whether mortgage demand will finally cool in response, or whether higher rates will simply further suppress supply. If the latter, we expect additional near-term home price appreciation. One consequence of the stronger home price environment is that new home […]
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Black Knight agreed to sell Black Knight’s product and pricing engine unit Optimal Blue business to a subsidiary of Canada’s Constellation Software in an effort to save the merger deal. The $700 million proposed transaction includes a payment by Constellation of $200 million in cash, with the remainder financed by a […]
We finally got a break on mortgage rates last week as the 10-year yield hit a critical level and quickly reversed lower, sending mortgage rates down. Active listings showed growth, week to week, but much smaller than I would like to see. Purchase application data showed some growth weekly, keeping alive the streak of more […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) this week filed an amicus brief in a Maine Supreme Judicial Court in a case involving a married couple’s loan, joining with state officials including the attorney general, its Bureau of Financial Institutions and Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection. The Maine state agencies filed the lawsuit, Franklin Savings Bank […]