Finance

Commitments to purchase new mortgages fell 16% from June to $62.4 billion in July—the lowest level since April 2012.

Census Bureau data shows that builders started 19,000 single-family attached houses in the quarter, up from 18,000 for the April-May-June period in 2012.

After dedicating 28 homes last year (the first on the reservation since 1972) the San Felipe pueblo has made considerably better time on its next development.

The members of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America did $13.0 billion of primary new insurance written in July.

El Paso changed underwriters to sell $61 million of bonds for a downtown baseball stadium after the first try failed.

A surge in borrowing costs to a two-year high is starting to cool demand from homebuyers as higher rates combine with surging prices to reduce affordability.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is considering a reduction in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's loan limits that is slated to kick in the first day of January.

LaTanya Moore-Newsome, a real estate agent with Century 21 in Atlanta, has been calling Wall Street-backed landlords for months on behalf of her low-income clients with government housing vouchers.

Zais Financial Corp., Red Bank, N.J., has purchased a residential mortgage loan portfolio with an unpaid principal balance of $98.2 million.

There was a 10 basis point decrease in the price of whole loans securing commercial mortgage-backed securities in July.

The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey finds the average rate for the 30-year fixed rate loan is still 92 bps higher than it was for the same week last year.

Mortgage purchases by Freddie Mac fell nearly 13% in July compared to June but the share of refinancings remained steady at 69%.

There are concerns the majority approach could eventually lead to the return of risky piggy-back and no downpayment lending that was prevalent before the subprime meltdown.

Fitch Ratings expects new nonresidential construction activity will remain positive for the remainder of this year and heading into 2014.

Federal regulators have agreed to exempt all single-family loans that meet the underwriting standards of the qualified mortgage rule from the 5% risk retention requirements mandated by a newly proposed qualified mortgage rule.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka has dropped its activity-based stock purchase requirement when members sell their mortgages to the FHLB.

The New York City Housing Development Corp. intends to sell $655 million of capital fund grant program revenue bonds in two series on Wednesday.

Texas A&M University System is preparing to issue $353 million of taxable and tax-exempt revenue bonds for the most costly college stadium renovation in the nation.

Standard & Poor’s probably will demand greater protections for investors when mortgage bonds are backed by loans to homeowners in jurisdictions that use eminent domain to seize debt to help borrowers.