Coronavirus

The Federal Housing Administration said in its annual actuarial report that the capital reserve ratio on its mutual mortgage insurance fund increased to 6.10% in fiscal year 2020, up from 4.84% a year earlier.

With the coronavirus cutting employment or wages in 32% of households, the number of potential homebuyers could shrink and cause home price growth to hit its inflection point, analysts say.

Mortgage rates moved off of their all-time low this week as a result of reports that Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine was potentially 90% effective, according to Freddie Mac.

More than six months after the CARES Act became law, the two entities joined a host of industry organizations in launching the COVID Help for Home campaign to educate borrowers on the next steps in forbearance.

With the 10-year Treasury yield getting a boost due to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine news this week, KBW predicts insurers and title underwriters will fare best as recovery continues.

Measures are needed to better address the next event-driven mortgage credit crisis that will likely occur when an even higher percentage of mortgage credit assets are owned by nonbank entities.

The forbearance rate continued recovering in lockstep with employment improvement, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

With a Democrat set to take the White House in January, the agenda for agencies like the CFPB could undergo a rapid transformation, housing finance reform could be turned on its head and progressive banking ideas that were unthinkable over the past four years could gain traction.

For most of the underwriters it was a strong quarter, but concerns remain over government-sponsored enterprise reform and potential claims after forbearances end.

Under 2.9 million borrowers sit in coronavirus-related forbearance as GSE-backed mortgages drove the latest decrease, according to Black Knight.

The company is finding it challenging to ramp originations back up after spending most of the second quarter on the sidelines.

Staying in compliance with the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act has been a difficult task for lenders while employees work from home for months on end.

Getting ahead of the next wave of mortgage fraud calls for rock-solid systems with several protective tools deployed at once. But that only goes so far without the proper employee preparation.

The forbearance rate improved to the a level not seen since early April, but getting back to pre-COVID levels will require employment gains or additional government stimulus measures, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

While the total foreclosures continued to fall with coronavirus moratoria in place, the share of zombie properties rose in the fourth quarter, according to Attom Data Solutions.

How we resolve millions of delinquent mortgages due to COVID is the only question that matters.

Mortgage rates remained relatively flat this week, helping housing to stay as one of the bright spots in the U.S. economy during the current uncertainty, according to Freddie Mac.

The lease/purchase home operator is securitizing a loan with higher debt-service coverage that most prior MBS issues from its trust. It also is providing a geographically diverse mix of homes that make the deal less vulnerable to isolated outbreak hotspots.

A booming housing market contrasts with a slow-to-improve job market, making for lopsided improvement in the number of troubled mortgages, according to numbers from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

When both origination and forbearance demand spiked in the early weeks of COVID-19, quick thinking lenders were able to leverage their expertise and tech stacks to respond quickly.