Economy

The sale of $16.7 billion in nonperforming loans by the Department of Housing and Urban Development Department helped the owners of about 16,700 homes avoid foreclosure, the agency said.

An expected rush of refinancings of Federal Housing Administration loans could force some mortgage servicers to take writedowns in the first and second quarters, but they have more incentive than ever to keep borrowers in the FHA program instead of letting rivals lure away their customers.

Bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate this week would make it easier for consumers to secure financing to purchase manufactured housing.

Ed DeMarco, the former chief regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, warned that efforts under the Obama Administration to expand access to credit could risk repeating mistakes that led up to the crisis.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis is again admitting mortgage-investment firms as members, even as the overseer of the government-chartered system of 12 regional lenders considers barring such companies.

Getting a home loan is easier now than a year ago, according to the Zillow Mortgage Access Index.

Nomura Holdings Inc. will defend claims by a U.S. regulator that it sold defective mortgage-backed securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the 2008 financial crisis, becoming the first bank to take such a case to trial.

The Federal Reserve will not raise rates in June, while mortgage rates could fall this year as the dollar gets stronger and oil prices remain low, mortgage industry consultant Barry Habib said at a mortgage conference.

Manhattan's smallest apartments are fueling big gains in rents.

Negative attitudes in Washington toward the mortgage industry are starting to thaw, yet devising Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's exit from conservatorship or charting the future of housing finance reform still will be tough.

Mortgage rates rose to the highest levels this year as job growth gained momentum.

Real estate investment trust ZAIS Financial Corp.'s acquisition of privately owned mortgage company GMFS proved to be highly dilutive to earnings.

Proposals for stiffer capital requirements will reduce the number of mortgage servicers, which in turn will cut access to credit, mortgage-company executives said at an industry conference on Wednesday.

Home buying confidence has gone up since last year as more Americans begin to see now as a good time to purchase a home, according to TD Bank.

Fannie Mae selected a chief internal auditor with an "inherent conflict of interest" and the mortgage giant's process for filling the position was faulty, according to a watchdog report to be released Wednesday.

Lenders should carefully evaluate their business practices and the importance of an actual pre-approval process in the context of their operations.

Consumer sentiment towards receiving a mortgage and the direction of the overall economy reached new highs in February, according to a Fannie Mae survey.

The three leading U.S. consumer credit reporting agencies agreed to make sweeping changes to correct errors and improve accuracy of reports as well as to increase protection for consumers with medical debt.

Unless we are willing to consider housing policies that reflect the economic conditions young adults in this country are actually facing, we will never solve the problems in U.S. housing markets.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has priced a secondary offering of 10 million shares of common stock at $17 per share.