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An index of contract signings for the purchase of previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly increased in February to a three-year high, representing solid housing activity that's likely to retrench because of the pandemic.

Mortgage bankers are sounding alarms that the Federal Reserve's emergency purchases of bonds tied to home loans are unintentionally putting their industry at risk by triggering a flood of margin calls on hedges lenders have entered into to protect themselves from losses.

The real estate industry, struggling with coronavirus-linked limitations, got a boost with its sales business reclassified as an "essential" industry.

A top U.S. regulator is exploring whether to throw a lifeline to mortgage servicers stressed by the coronavirus pandemic by tapping a program meant to address natural disasters.

The impending wave of loan delinquencies because of the coronavirus hurt private mortgage insurer earnings, but the companies will still have sufficient capital, a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods report said.

The government is cushioning the impact of the coronavirus on consumers, but independent mortgage bankers need funding to deal with increased levels of servicing advances because of forbearances.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reiterated Thursday that he wants U.S. financial markets to remain open even as the coronavirus fuels wild volatility, while adding that he's focused on helping mortgage firms expected to be hit hard by the pandemic’s spreading economic pain.

Title underwriters won’t be hit as hard by the coronavirus as other insurers, but related economic changes will challenge them, Fitch Ratings said, in assigning a negative outlook to the sector.

Two Harbors, a real estate investment trust, sold the bulk of its nonagency mortgage-backed securities portfolio to head off margin calls and refocus on its more favorable agency-MBS investments.

The reprieve from mortgage data collection was among several changes to the agency’s supervisory and enforcement procedures to help firms responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.