Economy

The Mortgage Bankers Association unveiled a new housing finance reform plan on Tuesday designed to kick-start congressional discussions over what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

CIT Group's exit from its commercial air and reverse-mortgage-servicing businesses cost it heavily in the fourth quarter.

An explicit government guarantee of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is imperative to reform the secondary market, but needs be carefully circumscribed — covering only the securities and invoked only after multiple, significant layers of private capital have been exhausted.

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that the Treasury Department will have to hand over more documents to investors of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac related to its profit sweep of the two government-sponsored enterprises.

Citigroup's plans to sell a $97 billion mortgage servicing portfolio and subservice its remaining accounts highlights the growing prevalence of nondepository servicers and raises questions about how much capacity exists for these institutions to absorb more large deals.

With home values — and interest rates — rising, homeowners finally seem ready to tap into their homes' equity to fund long-delayed home-improvement projects.

Home prices increased 5.7% year over year in November, Black Knight Financial Services reported.

Contracts to buy previously owned homes rebounded last month as buyers adjusted to the recent jump in mortgage rates, according to the National Association of Realtors.

New Residential Investment Corp. is planning a public offering of more than 49.2 million shares of its stock to pay for its purchase of mortgage servicing rights from CitiMortgage.

Citigroup plans to exit the mortgage-servicing business by the end of 2018 to focus on making new loans.

Seattle-based online real estate brokerage Redfin is creating a mortgage bank subsidiary in a bid to offer end-to-end real estate services.

A shortage of appraisers, combined with soaring demand for housing, is causing lengthy delays in Seattle and surrounding markets.

Jefferies Group has added a third lender to its latest securitization of a mortgage warehouse facility.

The New York company may struggle with profitability as it decides whether to find a new buyer.

Vacation homes in New York's Hamptons lost their allure for buyers in the fourth quarter as concerns about the U.S. presidential election and its aftermath curtailed interest in discretionary purchases.

Invitation Homes, the real estate investment trust controlled by private equity firm the Blackstone Group, has found a new source of financing for its portfolio of single-family rental homes: Fannie Mae.

Mortgage interest rates increased for the first time in 2017, ending a run of three weeks where they were down, according to Freddie Mac.

Purchases of new homes fell in December to a 10-month low, suggesting the post-election jump in mortgage rates pushed out potential buyers.

Profits at Astoria Financial in Lake Success, N.Y., fell along with net interest income in the fourth quarter.

Umpqua Holdings in Portland, Ore., reported an increase in profits, as a spike in fees compensated for lower interest income.