Origination

Independent mortgage banking firms made an average profit of $575 per origination in the second quarter, a 66% gain compared to 1Q -- but a significant decline from two years ago when the average gain was $1,358.

Congress begins its fall session on Tuesday and lawmakers will have only a few weeks to act before the authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to issue new flood insurance policies expires on Sept. 30.

In the last 12 months, those who use an Individual Retirement Account to save money for their post-workplace lifestyle have put $450 million of their funds into real estate, according to IRA Financial Group, New York.

Mortgage applications dropped 9.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly mortgage applications survey.

An executive in the senior housing lending business is warning potential borrowers that because of the tight credit markets, they must be prepared to give even more descriptive information and data than already has been provided.

After months of rumors, Bank of America made it official Wednesday morning, saying it would exit the correspondent mortgage space, where it ranks second nationwide.

CoreLogic said recently hired financial advisory firm Greenhill & Co. will evaluate the company's financial strategy and “explore a wide range of options aimed at enhancing shareholder value,” up to and including a possible sale or merger of the Santa Ana, Calif.-based provider of mortgage and property data, analytics, technology and services.

Home prices rose 1.1% in June after a 1% increase in May as values in 19 of the 20 metropolitan areas tracked by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index registered monthly gains.

For those of us who live on the East Coast, we certainly had plenty of reminders about impending disasters this past week.

Municipalities are increasingly holding mortgage securitization trustsliable for the upkeep of properties, which could affect investors'cashflows, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.