Origination

It’s hard to time the next economic slowdown. But lenders, many with lingering memories of the financial crisis, are taking steps now to limit exposure in commercial real estate, construction and other loan segments.

Many in the industry say releasing GSE-backed loans from stringent underwriting rules has helped the housing market recover, but a new level of regulatory burden could reverse those gains.

Freedom Mortgage's planned purchase of J.G. Wentworth Home Lending would add 570 employees and 35 offices across 46 licensed states and increase the acquirer's servicing portfolio by $6 billion.

Essent Group continued to benefit from the volatility in private mortgage insurers' market share, remaining in second place among the six active underwriters at the end of the recent quarter.

A Sacramento CEO has pleaded guilty to embezzling funds from his employees' pensions, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California.

The Central Texas housing market appears to be on track to set records this year for home sales and prices, an economist said.

June employment by nondepository mortgage bankers and brokers was little changed from the previous month, but later numbers could prove stronger given some influential lenders' interest in staffing up.

The Lehigh Valley is not adding enough housing to keep up with job growth, a recent study finds, a problem shared with other major coastal hubs experiencing soaring economies and debilitating construction costs.

In the next 30 years, an estimated 802,555 homes worth $450 billion are under the risk of flooding, and in turn becoming distressed mortgages, according to a joint study by Zillow and Climate Central.

Mortgage industry hiring and new job appointments for the week ending Aug. 2.