Economy

The leader of the Senate Banking Committee said he'd rather leave Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in U.S. conservatorship than pass a bill that includes explicit government support for the housing market.

With mortgage giant Freddie Mac finding increased demand this week in the nascent market for its risk-sharing securities, competitor Fannie Mae said it was taking steps to draw more buyers for its own notes.

In a reflection of the recovering housing market, consumer demand for home equity lines of credit is surging, according to the Consumer Banker Association's Home Equity Lending Committee.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities servicers have held on to real-estate owned properties for longer than usual, which could lead to a reversal in the declines in liquidations seen recently, according to a Fitch Ratings study.

If you thought the subprime mortgage-backed security was an artifact of the past, think again. Nomura Holdings and Angel Oak Capital have a deal that may help revive the part of the market that went bust during the crisis. Their success could encourage more banks to dip their toes back into riskier mortgages.

KeyBank Real Estate Capital has teamed up with Hunt Mortgage Group to create a commercial mortgage servicing group and asset management department.

Lyle Gramley, the former chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association who prior to that was a Federal Reserve governor who helped battle a recession and inflation of more than 10% during Pres. Ronald Reagan's first term in the 1980s, has died. He was 88.

Purchases of new homes unexpectedly rose in February to a seven-year high as stronger job gains helped bolster industry activity amid severe weather.

Home prices increased less than economists estimated in January as traditional buyers took the place of investors, leading to smaller gains.

Much like in 2014, a multitude of factors, including record snowfall across the country and the West Coast port strike, contributed to a sluggish start to the year economically.

Ocwen Financial Corp. agreed to sell servicing rights on a $25 billion portfolio of home loans and said it's out of compliance with New York Stock Exchange listing standards.

Ocwen Financial is fighting back against a group of large bondholders that have accused the Atlanta mortgage servicer of improper servicing practices and an alleged breach of trust.

Sales of previously owned homes fell short of a 5 million annual rate in February for a second month, showing an industry struggling to gain traction amid rising prices and a lack of inventory.

A new loan program will allow borrowers to put down even less than the 3% down payment mortgage programs to be offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This move and others like it, while laudable, will no doubt ensure increasing default rates.

Many housing markets have seen more homes become trapped underwater during the fourth quarter although the nationwide negative equity rate didn't change, according to analytic firm Zillow.

Ocwen Financial has delayed filing its 2014 results and announced the sale of more servicing rights. The embattled Atlanta servicer was initially expected to report fourth-quarter and full-year results on Monday.

Lennar Corp., the second largest U.S. homebuilder, is raising its bet on rental housing as the pace of sales continues to drag.

As the temperature have crept up, mortgage rates have gone down, making for a positive start to the spring home-buying season, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The percentage of mortgage loans refinancing as part of the overall origination market continued to grow in February following January's blockbuster month, according to data released Wednesday by Ellie Mae.

If successful, Provident Bank in Massachusetts and Cincinnati Federal in Ohio would become the first new mutual holding companies since 2011, giving some hope that the structure could make a comeback.