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, […]
Cenlar FSB, the second-largest mortgage servicer and largest sub-servicer in the U.S., appointed Michelle DeHart as the vice president of loan operations, escrow, the company announced on Tuesday. “Having managed large-scale servicing operations, we will lean on Michelle’s expertise and are confident that she will deliver the best possible solutions for Cenlar, our clients and […]
Cloud-based mortgage CRM OptifiNow has launched a version of its CRM platform called OptifiNow Flex, which is designed to support multi-channel mortgage teams. The product aims to unify workflows for wholesale, retail, reverse mortgage, recruiting and more into a single system while also lowering IT costs, OptifiNow said in a statement. OptifiNow’s vice president of […]
Rocket Mortgage expanded its special-purpose credit program that will offer a $3,000 credit for first-time homebuyers to use toward their downpayment in select cities. The Detroit-headquarterd lender will offer Freddie Mac‘s BorrowSmart Access program for buyers who are purchasing a home in counties across 10 metropolitan areas — Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, El Paso, Houston, McAllen, […]
Black Knight will be selling its loan origination system Empower in a bid to save the merger deal with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). “ICE and Black Knight entered into the divestiture agreement in connection with efforts to secure clearance of ICE’s proposed acquisition of Black Knight under the Hart-Scott Rodino Act,” the two companies said in […]
Home Point Capital, the parent company of wholesale lender Homepoint, is seeking a successor to take over Mark Elbaum’s chief financial officer position. On February 24, Elbaum submitted his resignation as CFO, according to a March 1 8-K filing from the company. Elbaum’s resignation will be effective April 3 and he will continue to serve […]
California-based CMG Mortgage, Inc. struck a deal to acquire the retail division of Homebridge Financial Services, the companies announced on Monday. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. CMG Mortgage, which claims it originated more than $19 billion in 2022, said the M&A deal seeks to increase its footprint on the retail lending […]
Guaranty Home Mortgage Corporation (GHMC) on Monday announced its expansion with three new licensed retail branches in Tennessee. The new branches are located in Brentwood, Lebanon and Chattanooga. GHMC originates and purchases loans through multiple channels. The expansion is part of the company’s strategy to grow its presence and focus on residential mortgage lending. “This […]
Illinois-based mortgage lender Celebrity Home Loans and its parent company Celebrity Financial, Inc. are the target of a class-action-seeking lawsuit. A former employee is suing the companies, alleging they “abruptly terminated hundreds of its employees” without giving legally required 60-day advance notice as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act). In addition, plaintiff Michael Blake, […]
The housing market faced some serious obstacles last week as the 10-year yield broke over 4%, mortgage rates rose to over 7%, purchase apps fell again and we are still trying to find the elusive seasonal bottom for housing inventory. Here is a quick rundown of the last week: Purchase application data was down 6% […]
It felt like somebody turned on the spigot. There were leads, referrals and action in January, after people returned from holiday vacations and rates declined, said Don Monson, branch manager at Sente Mortgage. He was cautiously optimistic for a better 2023. Monson had hoped for a “spring rush,” but recently, somebody turned the spigot back […]
Growing supply shortages are holding housing prices higher, and affordability constraints coupled with elevated rates lock potential sellers in place. Home prices fell in January, pulling back by 0.24% from December to mark the smallest monthly decline in seven months, according to Black Knight‘s mortgage monitor report. The annual home price growth rate fell to […]
Inflation is hot, so why aren’t mortgage rates over 10% like we saw in the 1970s? Put those disco pants back in the closet; this isn’t the 1970s, John, and the bond market has been saying this to anyone who would listen. Mortgage rates have trended up to over 7% while the 10-year yield has […]
Executives at Rocket Companies are engaged in a very tricky balancing act: they must drastically reduce expenses to return the company to profitability. And at the same time they must continue to invest in their business to avoid losing further ground in a mortgage market that doesn’t play to Rocket’s natural strengths. The lender has […]
Title industry revenue dropped 19% year over year in 2022, according to data released Thursday by Fitch Ratings. This 19% decline is on a GAAP basis for the Fitch Ratings title universe, which includes Fidelity National Financial, First American, Old Republic and Stewart. According to the Fitch report, the decline in revenue was driven by […]
Blank-check firm Aurora Acquisition Corp. extended the deadline to complete its merger with struggling digital mortgage lender Better.com for the third time. The deadline for the merger is now September. The decision was made during Aurora’s shareholder’s meeting held on February 24, filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed on Thursday. “Aurora […]
Mortgage rates are surging again due to sustained economic growth and continued inflation, eclipsing 7% on Thursday. And it could be a while before they tick back down, economists say. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage on Thursday, March 2 touched 7.10%, up 16 basis points from 6.94 on Wednesday. The most recent survey by Freddie Mac […]
When the entire mortgage industry saw volume drop by more than half in 2022, nearly every lender emerged with battle scars. Rising rates caused refinances to dry up, production plummeted, and pink slips were issued to employees. Non-qualified mortgage (non-QM) wholesale lender A&D Mortgage, however, saw origination volume increase by more than 31% to $3.2 […]
Income verification platform Truework has added its automated service ordering feature to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Mortgage Technology’’s loan origination system Encompass. The integration is now built on the latest Encompass Partner Connect application programming interface (API) platform and is available through ICE Mortgage Technology, Truework said Wednesday. “The automation eliminates the tedious data submissions traditionally […]
San Francisco-based SaaS technology provider Polly on Monday announced its API integration with Total Expert, a customer engagement platform purpose-built for financial institutions. Through this API integration, users can populate MLS and non-MLS rate flyers in a short period of time using “real-time, scenario-specific mortgage offers” delivered through Polly’s cloud-native Product and Pricing Engine (PPE), […]
Issuance of agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) is projected to contract significantly over the next two years in the face of a housing-market contraction, but the actual supply of MBS available for purchase in the private market is expected to swell to record levels over that period. That’s the takeaway from a recent market report by the Amherst Group, […]
Opteon, a Scottsdale-based appraisal, valuation, advisory, and property services provider, has expanded its direct-to-consumer business model nationwide, the company announced on Wednesday. The goal of the expansion is to provide homeowners and buyers, along with real estate, legal, and tax professionals, the option to order an appraisal directly through Opteon’s services, according to a statement […]
Fannie Mae updated its Selling Guide on Wednesday to include more options for property valuations, saying that they are “moving away from implying that an appraisal is a default requirement.” Those options include value acceptance (formerly appraisal waivers), value acceptance plus property data and hybrid appraisals. “We are on a journey of continuous improvement to […]
Higher mortgage rates have zapped mortgage demand, as buyers are having second thoughts about purchasing homes. Mortgage applications for home purchases dropped 6% for the week ending February 24 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Mortgage demand was also 44% lower than the same week a year ago, […]
The financials are all red for the top U.S. mortgage lenders for the fourth quarter of 2022. United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) reported on Wednesday morning an unprofitable quarter, the day after Rocket Companies disclosed its most significant quarterly loss in company history to the market. UWM, the top U.S. wholesale lender, maintained flat gain-on-sale margins relatively in the fourth […]
Independent mortgage lender New American Funding (NAF) has partnered with hyper-local news platform Patch to become its exclusive mortgage provider, the company announced on Tuesday. Through this partnership, NAF will be featured in Patch’s weekly newsletters in more than 1,200 communities nationwide, and the mortgage and real estate verticals on Patch’s community websites. “This partnership […]
Mortgage technology giant Black Knight reported slimmer organic growth in 2022 amid operational challenges for its clients, which stemmed from high interest rates. Black Knight reported organic revenue growth of 4%, which demonstrates the durability of our business model,” the firm’s chief executive officer Joe Nackashi said in a statement. “We remain focused on winning […]
The 2022 housing market was largely characterized by the swift slowdown in demand caused by rapidly rising mortgage rates. However, even as existing home sales fell 17.8% year over year in 2022, according to data from the National Association of Realtors, home prices still managed to rise 5.8% for the year as a whole, according […]
Digital mortgage lender and nonbank home loan provider Better.com has launched “Equity Unlocker,” a mortgage innovation that allows employees to pledge vested stock equity as collateral for a down payment without selling their stock. “At Better, our mission is to make homeownership cheaper, faster and easier for all Americans,” Better CEO and founder Vishal Garg […]