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A gauge of U.S. pending home sales fell to a six-month low in January as buyers competed for a limited number of properties.

With extreme winter weather about to give way to ballooning insurance and mortgage forbearance claims in Texas, servicers will need to get through their pipelines with urgency while weeding out fraud.

The agency will allow an additional three months of forbearance for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, giving homeowners up to 18 months to suspend payments due to the pandemic.

After several weeks of resistance, mortgage rates are now moving in lockstep with the recent increases in the 10-year Treasury yield.

Mortgage companies are working to forge links with homeowners’ insurers to avoid delays that could compound damage to customer service and properties.

About 140 tracts grew in size by at least 5%, according to census data analyzed by Bloomberg News. Thirty-six expanded by 20% or more.

Servicers could be dealing with approximately 1.8 million distressed properties when the latest forbearance extension ends in June, Black Knight said.

Purchases of new single-family homes increased 4.3% to a 923,000 annualized pace in January from an upwardly revised 885,000 rate in the prior month, government data showed Wednesday.

Berkeley is the latest city looking at opening up exclusive neighborhoods to more housing as the region struggles with exorbitant rents and home prices and increasing homelessness.

Severe winter weather and another hike in mortgage rates stifled loan volume for the week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.