Origination

A federal judge in Washington ruled that a temporary U.S. ban on evictions in parts of the country hit hardest by the coronavirus can continue, a major victory for the Biden administration’s efforts to extend protections as the Delta variant spreads.

While the company's mortgage originations saw a 46% annual drop in gain on sale margin, it anticipates that annual volumes will exceed 2020 levels.

The guarantor of mortgage-backed securities has been without a Senate-confirmed president for four and a half years. The vacancy makes it difficult for other government agencies to coordinate housing objectives, according to stakeholders.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development and Federal Housing Finance Agency, which supervises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, formed a pact to share information and coordinate investigations of potential fair-lending violations.

The new all-in-one brokerage aims to avoid the "one-size-fits-all approach,"Rocket Homes CEO Doug Seabolt said.

The companies are investing more in government-insured equity withdrawal products for borrowers ages 62 and up, which offer higher returns.

Shrinking gain-on-sale margins also ate into earnings, with growth expected to slow for the rest of 2021.

A jump in jumbo loan programs was countered by lenders dropping high loan-to-value conforming products.

The average was up from 2.77% last week and the highest since July 15, Freddie Mac said Thursday.

The median price of an existing single-family home jumped 23% from a year earlier to an all-time high of $357,900, the National Association of Realtors said in a report Thursday.