Origination

Sales of previously owned homes fell short of a 5 million annual rate in February for a second month, showing an industry struggling to gain traction amid rising prices and a lack of inventory.

A new loan program will allow borrowers to put down even less than the 3% down payment mortgage programs to be offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This move and others like it, while laudable, will no doubt ensure increasing default rates.

Bank of New York Mellon is building out a new investment firm with the mortgage specialist Amherst Holdings. The move is its second major commitment to a fixed income-related fund this year.

Many housing markets have seen more homes become trapped underwater during the fourth quarter although the nationwide negative equity rate didn't change, according to analytic firm Zillow.

Lennar Corp., the second largest U.S. homebuilder, is raising its bet on rental housing as the pace of sales continues to drag.

The CFPB wants to expand banks' data reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. But this would impose even greater costs upon local financial institutions that are already overburdened by regulation.

As the temperature have crept up, mortgage rates have gone down, making for a positive start to the spring home-buying season, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The percentage of mortgage loans refinancing as part of the overall origination market continued to grow in February following January's blockbuster month, according to data released Wednesday by Ellie Mae.

The agency's interpretation of a Respa rule could put an end to the long-standing practice of mortgage lenders paying real estate agents and homebuilders to send business their way.

If successful, Provident Bank in Massachusetts and Cincinnati Federal in Ohio would become the first new mutual holding companies since 2011, giving some hope that the structure could make a comeback.