Origination

The conversion of owner-occupied single-family homes into renter-occupied homes has played in important role in stabilizing housing markets that has been wracked by foreclosures, according to a report on rental housing released Tuesday morning.

House prices fell 1.1% in February following a 1.1% decline in January, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city house price index.

Unsuccessful in its efforts to raise fresh capital and already operating under multiple enforcement orders, embattled Mercantile Bancorp Inc. of Quincy, Ill., could be on the verge of failure, according to its auditors.

The $5.2 million loan on the U.S. Geological Survey regional headquarters that was securitized in loan pool JPMCC 2010-C2 is 30-days delinquent, according to a report from Royal Bank of Scotland.

In all of our talk about using social media, about how we are going to use the Internet to take more loan application, how we can communicate in an instant with our clients and never pick up the telephone, have we lost something, the ability to communicate meaningfully?

With a good size jump in starts in March, the California Industry Research Board is now looking for an overall increase in production this year.

BALTIMORE—A year ago, the folks who work in Freddie Mac’s multifamily section were sitting around waiting for the phones to ring. Now they can’t keep up.

New home sales jumped 11% in March and the government revised upward its estimate of February and January sales by 31,000 units.

In 2010, commercial and multifamily mortgage origination volumes increased to $118.8 billion, up 44% compared to 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. And first liens accounted for 92% of the total dollar volume closed.

National Penn Bancshares Inc. in Boyertown, Pa., reported a big increase in profits, which it attributed largely to improved credit.