Economy

WASHINGTON — More than two dozen Senate lawmakers signed a letter this week that urges the Federal Housing Finance Agency to drop its proposal to tighten Federal Home Loan Bank membership rules.

George Engelke Jr., former chairman, president, and chief executive of the Astoria Financial in Lake Success, N.Y., has died.

In a speech last May, Edward DeMarco declared these truths to be self-evident: "Restoring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is not the solution. They failed and their business model failed. Going backwards to an obviously failed model cannot be dressed up with some promise of higher capital or explicit rather than implicit guarantees."

The amount of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding rose to a record high in the third quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Nicholas Schorsch, American Realty Capital Properties Inc.'s former executive chairman, is walking away from a compensation package valued at about $100 million, company filings show.

AmeriSave Mortgage Corp. in Atlanta has closed on its acquisition of CertusBank's mortgage business.

New-home construction exceeded a 1 million annualized pace in November for a third consecutive month, continuing a slow recovery in the housing market.

Marketplace lender Social Finance may pursue a larger initial public offering than expected, CEO Mike Cagney said. Progress in its mortgage business and a new lending app will be pivotal to the company's future, he said.

Impac Mortgage Holdings in Irvine, Calif., is currently in negotiations to acquire an unnamed mortgage originator, the company said in a recent regulatory filing.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew's decision to give more help to homeowners who have already gotten mortgage assistance has sparked opposition from Republicans aiming to end President Obama's foreclosure prevention program.

Confidence among homebuilders hovered in December close to a nine-year high, indicating the residential real estate recovery continues to make progress.

The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. has given its president and chief executive, Timothy Buzby, a two-year extension on his employment contract.

While evolving market conditions have made retaining servicing rights more attractive to independent mortgage bankers, making the right choice between an in-house operation or engaging with a subservicer is critical to the new business line's success.

HUD officials had taken a neutral position on whether FHA financing would be available for loans that were seized by cities and written down to their current appraised value.

Despite the mounting charge from burgeoning nonbank servicers, three large banks still control the majority of the servicing market.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities risk as measured by an index of underwriting and macroeconomic variables is up 11 points from 2013. That's still below its 2007 level, a researcher noted Thursday.

Here are three ideas that can be implemented between now and Jan. 2 to get your business in 2015 off to a flying start.

There's little point to Fannie and Freddie's large profits if that money is remitted to the Treasury rather than making the GSEs more financially stable.

A recent study found that homeowners who choose not to refinance lose out on tens of thousands of dollars in savings.

The first listed Australian landlord of U.S. housing is hunting for rundown properties in the New York City area as prices hit new highs.