Data and information management

Sales of previously owned homes dropped in January to the lowest level in more than a year as harsh winter weather combined with a lack of supply, tight credit and declining affordability slowed demand.

Mortgage rates for 30-year loans climbed for a second week, cutting into affordability as the housing recovery shows signs of cooling.

The rate of new foreclosures dropped to the lowest level in eight years as rising property prices erased negative equity and allowed more delinquent homeowners to sell without losing money.

A trend of fewer homeowners refinancing their mortgages as interest rates climb is helping to curb sales of home-loan bonds without government backing.

The pace of home construction declined more than forecast in January, indicating an unusually harsh winter probably played a role in slowing projects.

Confidence among homebuilders plunged in February by the most on record as bad weather limited prospective buyer traffic and depressed sales.

Ben Anderson is the early leader among survey respondents, with volume of $201 million in 2013.

The mortgage industry has always been an adrenaline junkie, getting its thrills by riding the highest roller coaster it can find and hoping the landing will be soft this time. What if you could smooth out the highs and the lows?

The MBA builder survey points to a strong start for the spring selling season.

Luxury-apartment owners in New York are listing a record amount of properties for sale, testing the upper limits of what buyers are willing to pay even as median prices remain off their peak set almost six years ago.

Institutional investors have bought as many as 200,000 U.S. properties in the last two years, taking advantage of real estate prices that fell as much as a third from the 2006 peak, and rising demand for rentals among Americans who lost their houses in the foreclosure crisis.

Mortgage rates for 30-year loans increased for the first time in six weeks as the two-year-old housing recovery showed signs of slowing.

Mortgage applications fell 2% for the week ended Feb. 7, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The single-family mortgage delinquency rate has been declining for eight straight quarters and it ended 2013 at the lowest level since 2008.

After the Federal Reserve announced in December that it would begin tapering purchases of mortgage-backed securities, all the major housing forecasters said rates would jump this quarter.

An ad campaign begun by the Federal Housing Finance Agency may come too late to boost refinancings by underwater borrowers with loans owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Life insurers have gotten burned in commercial lending before, but spectacular credit performance is reinforcing their persistent love of the niche.

Prices for single-family homes rose in 73% of cities in the fourth quarter, fewer than in the previous three months, as surging values in the past two years started to reduce affordability.

Thousands of eligible GSE borrowers could benefit from the federal refinancing program, the Urban Institute estimates.

Banks are looking at a regulatory plan to dramatically expand the data collected on mortgages as a potential ally in their battle to ease separate rules that they say will curb access to credit.