Banking

Bank of America's mortgage banking income was down 26% from a year ago due to a decrease in core loan production revenue and higher intercompany charges during the fourth quarter.

Interstate Hotels & Resorts in Arlington, Va., has formed a partnership with Hospitality Funding to provide financing for hotel development projects.

Synovus Financial in Columbus, Ga., reported a higher fourth-quarter profit on stronger interest and fee income.

Fourth-quarter mortgage banking income at Wells Fargo & Co. totaled $1.7 billion, up 10% from the $1.5 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2014, as the gain on originations and sales increased by $145 million year-over-year.

Life insurance companies posted a higher return on their private commercial mortgage investments in the third quarter of 2015, compared to the second quarter, according to LifeComps.

The availability of debt and equity financing declined during the most recent quarter, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council.

PNC Financial Services Group reported lower fourth-quarter profits on a decline in fees related to residential mortgages and deposit accounts.

Loan officers from the Top Producers rankings share some of their best career anecdotes and advice behind their success in the mortgage industry.

JPMorgan Chase reported a 21% drop in year-over-year earnings for its mortgage business as revenue dropped 10%.

BankUnited of Miami Lakes, Fla., has exited the retail mortgage origination channel.

Midtown Manhattan, once the pinnacle of U.S. office markets, is facing a jump in large, empty work spaces as new towers open and tenants spread out across the city, including outer boroughs that businesses once shunned.

Walker & Dunlop has agreed to acquire the other half of a commercial mortgage-backed securities joint venture it has with Fortress Investment Group.

Greystone in New York has hired Gregory Forester to lead a new group for hospitality-focused lending and investing.

Eagle Bancorp in Bethesda, Md., has hired four bankers to a develop a business line making Federal Housing Administration-insured loans for multifamily rental properties.

Employment at nonbank mortgage lenders and brokers was down in November, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

CrediFi, a New York-based provider of commercial property data, is launching CMBS Suite, which it said is an information resource for lenders looking to refinance securitized commercial mortgages.

But the strong demand for tax credits from those projects is also whittling down the investment returns as their riskiness declines, according to a new report by the New York-based accounting firm CohnReznick.

A recent tax change will provide more stability to banks and developers that use the low-income housing tax credit program, and the supply of below-market-rate apartments should increase as a result. But it's not enough to create the economic incentives needed to meet skyrocketing demand for affordable housing in the U.S.

The Federal Reserve's interest rate increase has commercial real estate debt and equity financing players even more upbeat about their prospects in 2016.

Ditech Financial, a subsidiary of Walter Investment Management, is exiting the distributed retail mortgage production channel.