Housing

It took an average of 50 days to close a residential mortgage loan in January, an increase of four days since new regulations took effect, according to Ellie Mae.

Markets in the Sun Belt and California are expected to have the best conditions for the sale of multifamily properties this year, according to Ten-X.

Mortgage applications rose last week, with refinancings surpassing 64% of all applications, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Real estate and rental marketplace Zillow is rolling out a new national ad campaign helmed in part by an Academy Award-winning filmmaker.

New-home construction unexpectedly cooled in January, indicating there is a limit to how much gains in residential real estate will boost growth at the start of 2016.

Waterstone Mortgage Corp. has introduced a zero-down, 7/1 adjustable-rate mortgage with a 20-year amortization.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has launched a new initiative, called the Fair Housing Enforcement Program, aimed at targeting discrimination in rental and home sale transactions.

There is concern that a decline in condo pricing could create loan problems similar to those that cropped up before the financial crisis. Bankers in the area, however, believe foreign investors would take the biggest hit.

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Confidence among homebuilders dropped in February to a nine-month low as potential buyers stayed away, interrupting the steady progress residential real estate had built over the course of 2015.

The Chicago, Des Moines and Cincinnati FHLBs have grown their life insurance company membership the most in recent years.

Low borrowing costs and rising home values are just two of several reasons why owning a home is far less burdensome than it was a decade ago.

Fannie and Freddie have been selling pools of delinquent mortgages at auction to the highest bidders. Community groups say the Federal Housing Finance Agency should be giving preferential treatment to nonprofits and community development financial institutions.

Flagstar Bancorp in Troy, Mich., has launched a national homebuilder lending platform.

The Federal Housing Administration will continue to charge borrowers an annual premium over the entire life of the loan, rejecting calls from some housing advocates to change how it’s calculated.

Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati said Thursday that it will spend $27.5 billion over the next five years to provide loans and other financial services to underserved communities in its region.

Mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 14% on an unadjusted basis from the month before, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Builder Application Survey.

Bank of Botetourt in Buchanan, Va., said Thursday it has opened a mortgage division to pursue unmet demand for home loans in southwestern Virginia.

Mortgage rates fell for the sixth straight week as market volatility continued, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The financial crisis turned a lot of Americans into renters, because they couldn’t keep paying their mortgage, or because high unemployment and stagnant wages in the ensuing years forced them to put off homeownership.