Mortgage lenders became slightly bearish on their profitability outlook in the fourth quarter, with the competitive landscape and shift to a purchase market cited as the main concerns, according to Fannie Mae.

The company will hold off on making loans under the Advantage Loan program as it conducts an audit and implements new policies and procedures.

Despite an uptick in homebuilding and favorable financing rates, Hovnanian Enterprises' latest earnings results remained in the red due to a charge the company took to reposition debt.

Lender profitability rose to a high not seen since 2012 in the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest quarterly report despite some variability in revenue generated per loan.

Such credits, which reflect borrowers with financial challenges, increased significantly during the third quarter.

Impac Mortgage Holdings generated $1.4 million in net income during the third quarter in earnings that were favorable compared to a string of losses in the past year.

The two newest private mortgage insurance companies had their best quarters ever for new insurance written, aided by the increase in consumers refinancing with less than 20% home equity.

Zillow Group reported third-quarter revenue that beat estimates as growing sales in its online marketing and home-flipping businesses sent shares higher in late trading.

Black Knight and PennyMac Financial Services are suing each other in separate disputes linked respectively to the latter's creation of a servicing platform and the former's dominant position in the market.

Ocwen Financial's cost-cutting initiatives are bearing fruit toward returning to profitability, management said, although the company's third-quarter loss was slightly higher than the same period one year ago.