Data and information management

The Federal Housing Administration is struggling with a high premium structure and competition from VA and GSEs.

Home Affordable Refinance Program loans are receding with overall refinancing, but in January they still looked to be running at about 23% of agency refis. The program ends next year.

Mortgage rates increased as the improving job market bolstered speculation that the Federal Reserve will keep scaling back its stimulus.

Mortgage applications fell last week as fewer consumers purchased properties and refinanced their homes.

Fannie Mae researchers attribute the sharp turn in perceptions to winter blues.

FICO plans to release a new broad-based scoring model this summer that helps lenders analyze a consumer's credit risk with greater accuracy.

These companies have cut 21,500 employees since last summer.

Mortgage rates for 30-year loans fell for the first time in four weeks, decreasing borrowing costs for homebuyers as the recovery in prices stretched into 2014.

Mortgage applications rose 9.4% from a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's survey for the week ending Feb. 28.

Hovnanian Enterprises reported a wider loss for its fiscal first quarter as inclement weather extended construction times and sales demand slowed.

Brian Scott Cohen of Wells Fargo's Brooklyn, N.Y. office is now the provisional leader in Origination News' 2013 Top 200 loan officer survey.

Contracts to purchase previously owned homes rose less than forecast in January, adding to signs housing was weakening in early 2014.

Wells Fargo, the nation's largest mortgage lender, plans to eliminate 700 more jobs as fewer borrowers are looking to refinance their mortgage loans.

Mortgage rates for 30-year loans climbed for a third week, increasing borrowing costs as harsh weather contributes to slowing demand for homes.

Purchases of new homes unexpectedly climbed in January to the highest level in more than five years, showing underlying strength in the industry even in the midst of unusually harsh weather.

Purchase applications reached their lowest level since 1995 last week, as the index decreased 4% from the previous week.

In the FDIC's fourth-quarter earnings report, the agency said loan buybacks fell to their lowest level in five years.

Home prices climbed at a slower pace in the year through December, indicating the market is entering a new stage that will help sustain further progress.

Bitter weather, the qualified mortgage rule's restrictive guidelines and the lingering effects of the foreclosure crisis have put a crimp in homebuying at an inopportune time for lenders.

"We are seeing less interest from institutional buyers" of foreclosed properties, says Fannie chief executive Timothy Mayopoulos.