Banking

First Foundation sold loans to Freddie Mac to free up space for higher-yielding credits. It then bought the securities that were formed to replace other, lower-yielding assets through an often overlooked program.

After a run-up in the latter half of last year, delinquencies on mortgages sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac look fairly stable for the time being.

The House of Representatives passed two bills that would tie appraisal waivers for Small Business Administration loans to bank rules for commercial real estate loans, despite objections from the Appraisal Institute about its members being cut out of transactions.

When it comes to attracting millennials, mortgages could be the key to capturing this demographic for the long haul – provided CUs are willing to put in the work.

The senator’s bill to reform the 40-year-old law and expand housing investments could gain clout as Democrats look to pick up congressional seats and she eyes a presidential run.

The cuts are part of a broader effort to trim expenses by roughly $3 billion a year by 2020.

A new financial technology company called Scratch is planning to use a new web-based platform along with an alternative pricing model to compete with companies that service mortgages and other consumer loans.

The changes mandated by the recent regulatory relief law would narrow the definition of "high-volatility commercial real estate" exposures that get a higher risk weight.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquency rates are likely to continue to decrease for the rest of the year, as new issuances outpace maturing loans and precrisis loans continued to get resolved by special servicers, Fitch Ratings said.

A decade after the credit crisis, investors are returning to where it all began. The mortgage sector, blamed in large part for the near-collapse of the global financial system, is now seen by many as a high-quality market forged by fire.