Economy

Builders started work on more homes than forecast in January after an upward revision to starts in the prior month, a sign construction was on a steady path entering 2017.

The Basel III capital requirements are making it hard for banks to stay in the servicing business, said David Motley, president of Colonial Savings. Their exodus from the market indirectly hurts consumers, he argued.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo said Wednesday that although he plans to begin working on housing finance reform and changes to the Dodd-Frank Act, the poor relationship between Democrats and Republicans will slow any progress.

Fannie Mae is making technological updates and implementing policy and operational changes as part of an effort to improve servicing.

The government-sponsored enterprises should target their affordable housing efforts to strengthening the single-family market, rather than investing in private equity giants.

The sale will include Fannie Mae's sixth "community impact" pool of loans.

Homeowners are reaping the rewards of higher home prices, as the number of seriously underwater properties dropped by 1 million from one year ago, Attom Data Solutions said.

JPMorgan Chase is known to eschew selling conforming mortgage loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, preferring to securitize them in the private-label market.

The denial rate traditionally used by the mortgage industry is hiding the fact that fewer borrowers with lower credit are applying for loans, according to the Urban Institute.

Nonbank mortgage company Cornerstone Home Lending has launched a new mortgage company as a joint venture with homebuilder Oakwood Homes.

While lenders support the intent of a proposal to encourage the growth of private flood insurance, they claim a regulatory proposal doesn't give lenders enough flexibility and remains too complicated.

Quicken Loans has named a new CEO to replace Bill Emerson, who is transitioning to a role with the Detroit lender's parent company, Rock Holdings.

The rise in home values is good news for homeowners looking to tap the equity in their homes to pay down debt or make big purchases, but some consumer groups fear it could lead to a new wave of loan defaults.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the central bank ought not rush to raising interest rates next month because uncertainty over the fiscal policies of the Trump administration clouds the U.S. economic outlook.

There were 89 markets that had the all-time high in median sales price last year with these 10 posting the biggest percentage gain over 2015.

Home price gains accelerated in the fourth quarter, with increases reported in 89% of metropolitan areas, as competition heated up for a record-low supply of listings, the National Association of Realtors said.

Uncertainty about the economy caused mortgage interest rates to stay within a 2-basis-point range for the third straight week, according to Freddie Mac.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank, one of the biggest underwriters of bonds tied to U.S. commercial real estate, say now it's time to short indexes of the securities.

The Urban Institute's Housing Finance Policy Center has created a new initiative aimed at addressing skyrocketing mortgage servicing costs.

A greater share of millennial women leveraged Federal Housing Administration loans than millennial men, Ellie Mae found in its latest Millennial Tracker report.