Origination

Access to mortgage credit inched up in June, as competition for jumbo loans resulted in looser underwriting, but government lending standards got more restrictive, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Public builder Beazer Homes USA plans to buy privately held Venture Homes for $65 million in a move that could make mortgage lending in Atlanta more competitive.

Spokane County, Wash., home prices rose in June, but the number of sales dropped off slightly.

Healthier economic conditions, more effective underwriting methods and recovering hurricane-impacted states helped drive delinquency and foreclosure rates to their lowest level in over 10 years, according to CoreLogic.

The California Democrat would have more of a bully pulpit as chair of the Financial Services Committee, but some say she could take a pragmatic approach to passing banking legislation.

Hanging over the Sonoma County, Calif., housing market is the damage done by the most destructive wildfires in state history. The fires of October claimed 24 lives and burned nearly 5,300 homes in the county.

A Fannie Mae test to handle the private mortgage insurance process for lenders may raise concerns that it's going outside the scope of its secondary market mission. But the effort reflects its mandate to explore new credit-risk transfer alternatives, a company executive said.

Despite available home equity shooting up in the first quarter, the share of total equity withdrawn by borrowers hit a four-year low, likely due to an increase in interest rates, according to Black Knight.

Once again, congressional inaction on reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program is prompting concerns about what a lapse in coverage could mean for loan closings.

Slight declines in consumer expectations for more favorable future job security, income and interest rates knocked Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment back down from a record high in June.