FHA

Purchase loan applications were at their highest level in nearly eight years because of rising interest rates, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The agency is winning praise for changes in how loans are evaluated for defects, which could cut down on the risk of enforcement actions.

Weak profits and the threat of false claims charges are keeping banks out of the market for loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The percentage of refinances grew to 40% of all closed loans in December, according to Ellie Mae.

Even as mortgage rates rose to their highest level since March, application activity increased from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The Senate Banking Committee had approved Powell already in December, but a revote was necessary after the Senate adjourned for the year without finalizing his confirmation.

The JPMorgan Chase CEO is rejecting arguments that banks are poised to loosen underwriting standards to win more mortgage business. He said what's needed to encourage banks to make more loans to borrowers with spotty credit files are changes to FHA rules and other policy fixes.

Adolfo Marzol, an official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is optimistic that technological improvements and other changes can help draw Federal Housing Administration lenders back to the fold.

Loan applications for newly constructed homes slowed on a month-to-month basis in December as the storm-driven spike in volume ended.

Mortgage application volume started the year on the upswing because of higher refinance activity, even with a slight increase in rates.

There were fewer mortgage programs available to borrowers at the lower end of the credit spectrum in December, resulting in an overall decrease in credit availability.

Laurie Maggiano, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's program manager for servicing and secondary markets, died on Sunday.

More than 100 pending Trump administration nominees, including Fed Chair-designate Jerome Powell, must update their financial disclosures and have the White House resubmit their names for consideration by the Senate.

Mortgage application volume decreased 2.8% during the last two weeks of 2017, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The average credit score of loans made to members of the millennial generation were a little lower than they were a year ago, according to Ellie Mae.

Billionaire Dan Gilbert's Quicken Loans Inc. outgrew almost every U.S. mortgage provider by unfurling technology like its online Rocket Mortgage platform faster than big banks.

From deregulation to digital innovation, here's a look at the top storylines that defined the mortgage industry in 2017.

Shifting policy stances and a renewed focus on housing finance reform from the White House could make 2018 a breakout year for Congress to finally resolve the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson has spent much of his first year trying to convince lenders they wouldn't be harshly penalized if FHA-guaranteed loans went bad. But he still has a ways to go.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and four other Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee are insisting on a recorded vote by the full Senate for the nomination of Brian Montgomery as Federal Housing Administration commissioner.