Origination

Volatility in the financial markets, uncertainty with foreign trade and the housing supply deficit caused mortgage applications to drop for the second straight week.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is paying $20 million to settle an investigation by the Illinois attorney general related to the bank's marketing and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities.

Homebuilders in the Twin Cities are having their best summer in more than a decade as permits to build single-family houses outpaced last year for the second month in a row.

Mortgage rates maintained their recent slide and have now declined in five of the past six weeks, according to Freddie Mac.

The price of a home in Santa Fe, N.M., was up again in the second quarter, while the number of homes for sale was was down, the Santa Fe Association of Realtors reported.

Housing demand is high, but few homeowners are interested in selling and the resulting inventory shortage continues to drive home prices higher.

Purchasing power took a plunge in some of the nation's hottest housing markets, as a competitive spring purchasing season continues to drive home prices higher.

Manhattan homebuyers are getting bolder these days, demanding bargains or walking away from deals in a market where inventory is swelling.

Dallas-area home prices are up 7.8% from a year ago in the latest national comparison by CoreLogic.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was ordered to pay the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. more than $625 million for negligence in the audit of Colonial BancGroup Inc., an Alabama bank holding company that failed during the financial crisis.