Finance

Investors in agency mortgage-backed securities will find next year to be "anything but smooth sailing" as Federal Reserve rate hikes and balance sheet reduction will lead to an increase in real rates and volatility while pushing spreads wider, Bank of America said.

As home value appreciation slowed, gains in home equity for the third quarter fell to the lowest level in two years, according to CoreLogic's homeowner equity report.

Toll Brothers Inc. reported its first drop in orders since 2014, led by a big falloff in California demand, a sign that high-end property markets are cooling. Shares slumped.

CleanFund has created a division that helps structure Property Assessed Clean Energy financing to meet a mortgage lender's credit criteria; its also talking to lenders about co-financing the energy upgrades.

Private-label residential mortgage-backed securitization is approaching a post-crisis high, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

A National Fair Housing Alliance-led group plans to amend and refile a recently dismissed complaint against Deutsche Bank, Ocwen Financial Corp. and Altisource Portfolio Solutions alleging racial discrimination in property preservation.

If the predictions prove correct, the benchmark rate would reach 3.50% by the end of next year.

Subprime originations are climbing in multiple consumer loan categories, including mortgages, but the increase is much smaller in the home loan sector than it is in other markets, according to TransUnion.

Confidence among homebuilders plummeted by the most since 2014 as the highest borrowing costs in eight years restrain demand, adding to signs of a cooling housing market that will weigh on the Federal Reserve's debate over how far to raise interest rates.

The end of one-party rule in Washington could move the needle on efforts to devise a new housing finance framework.

A U.S. regulator's plan to boost capital in the mortgage-finance giants won't work unless investors get "compensated" for the billions of dollars the government has collected from the companies in recent years, one shareholder said.

Ginnie Mae is adding steps to its process for evaluating new issuers, including new notification requirements related to subservicer advances, servicing income, and borrowing facilities secured by mortgage servicing rights.

Accessory dwelling units are gaining attention as a way to boost the supply of rental housing; dedicated financing could help those who need it the most.

Fannie Mae completed 10 traditional and front-end credit risk insurance transactions during 2018, sharing $2.6 billion of risk, including $192 million in its final deal of the year.

A reduction in Ditech Holdings' quarterly net loss fell short of what the company needed to avoid the possibility of another Chapter 11 filing.

Beazer Homes USA is working to encourage competition among its approved lenders in order to help control upward pressure on home prices and lending rates that could slow sales.

Ginnie Mae officials are concerned about unusual activity with Department of Veterans Affairs cash-out refinances and are investigating the causes, as well as whether predatory lenders are taking advantage of veterans.

If falling volume and rising costs weren't bad enough for nonbank mortgage lenders, an extended run of tight gain-on-sale margins is further eating into their profits.

UBS Group sold tens of billions of dollars' worth of residential mortgage-backed securities by "knowingly and repeatedly" making false and fraudulent statements to investors about the loans backing those trusts, the U.S. Justice Department said in a civil suit filed Thursday.

D.R. Horton Inc. fell the most in more than three years after executives at the builder said the market for homes is getting "choppy" and that the pace of order growth may slow next quarter.