Economy

The other parts of the Day 1 Certainty program regarding income and asset verifications remain in effect.

Some benefits are materializing from Fannie Mae's pledge to limit servicers' exposure to principal-and-interest advances the way Freddie Mac does, but counterparties of both GSEs remain exposed to other concerns.

Guild Mortgage's presence in Washington state, the epicenter of the first U.S. outbreak, gave it an early glimpse of the obstacles ahead.

Houston real estate agent Tim Surratt decided late last week to hold his first open house since the coronavirus pandemic broke out.

This scenario has been seen before. A sudden shock to the economy. Jobs lost. Lenders in trouble.

With unemployment mounting, new mortgage forbearance requests could sharply increase in early May when payments are due.

Mortgage lenders have imposed steep pricing adjustments for cash-out refinancing as more borrowers seek forbearance.

Lenders implemented stricter underwriting across all loan types in the first quarter as the pandemic upended the economy, the Federal Reserve said in its survey of loan officers.

The Palm Beach, Fla., real estate market entered the season last fall with a strong wind at its back.

Fannie Mae's profitability suffered but it managed to stabilize the mortgage market in the first quarter even with the coronavirus disrupting, among other things, certain credit-risk transfer vehicles it has used.

The Home Loan bank will make zero-interest loans, match charitable donations that members make to nonprofits and small businesses, and provide additional funding for economic development grants.

Delinquencies in U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities jumped in April, with the economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index hasn't yet reflected the impact of the coronavirus, but an independent market maker has some thoughts on how it might.

While Freddie Mac stabilized liquidity in mortgage markets, coronavirus-related credit losses drove the GSE's income down in the first quarter of 2020.

Mortgage rates fell to their lowest level since Freddie Mac started reporting this data in 1971, as the coronavirus shutdown continued to play havoc with the economy.

Mounting economic fallout from the pandemic is fueling apartment landlords' concerns that more tenants will struggle to make their rent payments, even after most managed to come up with the money for April.

A Rapid City, S.D., real estate agent must serve more than a year in prison and pay $124,645 in restitution after pleading guilty to tax evasion.

Federal Reserve officials restated their pledge to hold the benchmark interest rate near zero and will keep buying bonds, judging that the coronavirus pandemic "poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term."

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's chief operating officer will take a similar position at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, fulfilling one of the multiple recruiting goals the FHFA announced in January.

The government-sponsored enterprises are focusing on how loans can be repaid after the federal forbearance period ends, and projections for loan modification volumes suggest the larger industry should, too.