Origination

Fannie Mae forecasts flat to declining 30-year mortgage interest rates this year and next, while Freddie Mac thinks they will increase.

The percentage of loan applications which become closed loans slipped from March's high last month, according to Ellie Mae.

Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, introduced legislation Thursday to reform consumer credit reporting.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a proposal Wednesday to codify recent changes to its reverse mortgage program and to provide additional protections for seniors, including a cap on annual interest rate increases.

Home prices in the San Francisco Bay Area, the epicenter of the U.S. technology boom and housing-affordability crunch, hit an all-time high last month.

Mortgage applications decreased 1.6% from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Radian Group, the second-largest U.S. mortgage insurer, said Chief Executive Officer S.A. Ibrahim will step down at the end of next year after steering the company through the financial crisis as weaker rivals collapsed.

Despite a weak first quarter for GDP growth, the Mortgage Bankers Association's Mike Fratantoni still predicts that the Fed will raise short-term interest rates this year. That won't necessarily increase mortgage rates, but other variables might.

New-home construction rose in April, extending a pattern of gains and losses that signals the homebuilding industry is contributing little to economic growth.

This summer, Freddie Mac will start rolling out a suite of tools that should speed sales of loans to the GSE. Relief from reps and warranties will take longer, however.