Capital markets

Homeowners won't trade in their cheap mortgages so lenders keep finding other ways to reach that equity. Bond buyers keep showing up.

Some equity and credit agency researchers have lowered their sights in line with market changes, but their forecasts suggest stability for those that pivot.

The arm of the asset management giant is paying over $100 million for the Cherry Hill business started in part with Freedom Mortgage over a decade ago.

An acquisition this year could be one in a line of other future deals, potentially involving lenders or commercial real estate firms, Ellington executives said.

The company's affiliate has been issuing non-QM deals that include a small percentage of second liens, some of which also involve alternative documentation.

The bill, which is meant to free up housing supply locked in by high mortgage rates, does not include assumable mortgages which stick with the property.

The move is aimed at bringing additional mortgage servicing rights and investment expertise to the technology company and its capital markets division.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other senators sent a letter to six insurers challenging their use credit-based insurance scores to determine risk-based pricing.

The reverse mortgage lender's net income fell 136% from $80 million year over year in the second quarter, but still increased funded volume by 21%.

Lenders reported July declines of HECM endorsements and new securities issuances, but proprietary lending drove a 28% year-over-year surge in originations.

The real-estate investment trust affiliate has been focusing on making more funding available for new loans but also seeks to hold the line on credit quality.

The deal bolsters Zions' ability to serve multifamily customers and creates a natural extension of its affordable housing lending program, management said.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are under directives to make mortgage-backed securities purchases that can exert downward pressure on rates or limit increases.

Positive changes in credit provisions contributed to a multiyear high in net income as the GSE and its rival fought to purchase lenders' single-family loans.

Seasonal gains fueled the highest dollar volume of loans acquired since the third quarter of 2022, suggesting lenders are getting business from homebuyers.

The Congressional Budget Office's latest read on loan and guarantee costs points to the risks and value of government-sponsored enterprises in conservatorship.

So far this year, the volume of closed-end second and home equity line of credit securitizations is near last year's $29 billion, Bank of America Securities said.

Iran war and the AI-credit unwind signal higher-for-longer rates, wider spreads, forced cost cuts industrywide, writes the chairman of Whalen Global Advisors.

The drop in the annual metric for FHA loans was the biggest in over four years but other performance indicators ICE Mortgage Technology tracked were mixed.

Correspondent volumes and the servicing portfolio were flat to lower but Onslow Bay was nevertheless the top conventional MSR investor in the first half.