Origination

Consumers soon will be paying more for government-backed mortgages now that the House and Senate have reached a deal to extend a payroll tax break for two months.

Existing home sales were up in November for the sixth straight month in the huge Houston area market.

Housing production in California was up in November for the fourth consecutive month. But builders in the Golden State are still on track to start the third lowest number of units on record in 2011.

Another press release has arrived in my inbox, declaring a new low for mortgage rates. My initial response is: who cares! I don't mean to sound like a jaded mortgage columnist, but the untold story on rates boils down to this: how come continued low rates have not caused home purchases to really boom?

Home prices are back to last summer's levels, according to the latest reading from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, another sign that the real estate market is going nowhere fast despite record low rates.

In a roundtable discussion, Lew Sichelman, senior housing correspondent for National Mortgage News, asks members of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers' executive board what they are dealing with on the legislative front.

Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average weekly rate for a 30-year mortgage has inched down to another record low.

The Justice Department late Wednesday announced that it has reached a $335 million settlement with Countrywide Financial Corp., now owned by Bank of America, in the largest fair lending action in history.

Although residential originations fell by 20% in the third quarter — compared to the same period last year — multifamily production went in the opposite direction, rising 80%, according to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

Subjective thinking still is playing catch-up with the objective need for mortgage process automation, pushing mortgage technology providers to expand their paper-to-paperless offerings.