Origination

As real estate prices soared in recent years, working-class adults everywhere have increasingly relied on mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration — and U.S. taxpayers.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development's 60-day foreclosure halt for Federal Housing Administration borrowers is too short to help reverse mortgage borrowers, a letter from consumer groups stated.

Detroit-based mortgage giant Quicken Loans could be facing a cash crunch in coming weeks and possibly need temporary emergency federal assistance if lots of borrowers stop making payments on their home mortgages during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a news report.

High demand and low interest rates continued to drive strong sales of existing single-family homes in Maine in February, according to Maine Listings.

There was a nearly 30% week-to-week decline in loan applications as Americans reacted to the uncertainty, both economic and medical, from the spread of COVID-19, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Independent mortgage bankers had their most profitable fourth quarter in seven years for originations, but the fallout from the coronavirus could upset the economics of the industry in the short term.

Purchases of new homes in February held close to an almost 13-year high, showing momentum in the residential real estate market before economic activity fell victim to the coronavirus.

Minnesota Realtors is calling for a halt to all real estate open houses statewide, and they've asked the NorthstarMLS to disable the "open house" feature in its online home listing database.

The Federal Reserve Board should create a dedicated facility for mortgage servicers to access in order to make required advances, industry participants and observers, including its largest trade group, said.

The $16 trillion U.S. mortgage market — epicenter of the last global financial crisis — is suddenly experiencing its worst turmoil in more than a decade, setting off alarms across the financial industry and prompting the Federal Reserve to intervene.