Capital markets

Freddie Mac is partnering with Finicity to give lenders access to a new automated process that advances efforts to consolidate borrower-authorized data validation checks used in the secondary market underwriting process.

A mortgage industry executive with ties to a firm penalized in a U.S. predatory lending crackdown is being considered by the Trump administration to run Ginnie Mae, according to people familiar with the matter.

A mere 7-basis-point increase in interest rates reduced what was a record-high number of borrowers with refinancing incentive by 2 million in a matter of days, according to Black Knight.

Independent mortgage bankers reported their highest average profit per loan originated in almost three years, benefiting from a large drop in production expenses, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Blooma has developed a software product that combs databases to create property profiles for commercial real estate lenders. It can drastically cut origination costs and approval times and help banks identify safer loans, the company says.

Better.com has added new capital to support its growth and, in a separate deal, New Residential has agreed to use some its funds to buy property management firm DGG RE Investments.

Lower rates will likely sustain higher levels of origination through at least the third quarter, but supply constraints and economic weakness could limit the purchase market's response in the long term.

Mortgage-backed securities investors are looking to the specified pool market to counter higher prepayment speeds seen with loans purchased through the TBA window.

Mortgages auctioned off through a HUD distressed loan sale program perform worse than those unsold and are more likely to result in foreclosure, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

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.