Refinance

Any growth in housing starts and home sales in the second half of 2019 will be muted by continuing inventory constraints and rising home prices, according to Freddie Mac.

President Trump has signed the Protecting Affordable Mortgages for Veterans Act, which aims to address concerns that rules around certain VA refinances were impeding those loans' inclusion in secondary market pools.

Mortgage fraud risk took a serious dive in the second quarter amid lower interest rates, which brought more refinance transactions into the market, according to CoreLogic.

Title insurers benefited from the increase in origination volume — especially refinancings — during the second quarter, as open order counts increased compared with one year prior.

Fewer consumers applied for mortgages last week even as interest rates declined by 3 to 4 basis points for all product types, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

While seasonal factors were attributed to the monthly rise in mortgage delinquencies for June, the jump was still much higher than last year's fairly steady increase, according to Black Knight.

The second quarter continues to shape up as a good one for bank mortgage lenders — and one ancillary service provider — that are benefiting from a spike in volume.

Higher interest rates led to a 1.1% seasonally adjusted decline in mortgage applications compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Millennials flooded the mortgage market to refinance on lower rates, but the industry couldn't manage activity as quickly, according to Ellie Mae.

Fannie Mae increased its mortgage origination forecast as lower interest rates, driven by economic uncertainty, will lead to more refinance activity, but other factors will continue to hold back home purchases.