Origination

Construction of new homes increased more than forecast in November and permits to build climbed to a 12-year high as the housing market strengthened amid low mortgage rates, solid job growth, and optimistic buyers and builders.

Better.com saw huge growth in mortgages to traditionally underserved customer bases in 2019 and believes digital applications led to the avoidance of discriminatory lending.

Even with an increase in both new and existing home construction activity during November, the slowdown over the previous 11 months will constrain inventory going into 2020, according to BuildFax.

Issuance of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities slipped after several months of gains, but high volume still pushed the year-to-date total for 2019 ahead of 2018’s full-year figure.

The city of Philadelphia and Wells Fargo have agreed to resolve a 2017 lawsuit in which the city accused the bank of violating the Fair Housing Act by steering minority borrowers into risky, high-cost loans.

Without admitting wrongdoing, the bank has agreed to contribute $10 million to city programs promoting homeownership for low- and moderate-income residents.

U.S. homebuilder sentiment advanced in December to the highest level since 1999 amid stronger sales and a surge in prospective buyer foot traffic.

A larger share of Manhattan high-end residential property purchasers took out a mortgage during the third quarter rather than pay all cash for their condominium

Economists see little break in the feverish Bay Area residential real estate market coming in 2020.

Albuquerque is expected to have more empty houses than most cities, due to the baby boomer generation leaving their single-family homes behind.