Housing

The availability of debt and equity financing declined during the most recent quarter, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council.

JPMorgan Chase reported a 21% drop in year-over-year earnings for its mortgage business as revenue dropped 10%.

Interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages fell further this week due to overseas turmoil, according to Freddie Mac.

Homeowners continue to have an overinflated sense of the value of their homes, at least compared to the opinion of professional appraisers, according to Quicken Loans.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has filed charges against three California-based home loan modification companies and nine of their employees for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act.

Mortgage applications increased 21.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending Jan. 8 compared to a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Community bankers and credit unions scored a significant victory while others in the mortgage industry lost out in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's final rule establishing membership standards for the Home Loan banks.

Consumers increasingly fell behind on their payments in several loan categories in the third quarter as economic growth cooled.

The agency scrapped a part of its 2014 proposal that would have required Home Loan Bank members to maintain a certain percentage of residential mortgage assets in order to keep their membership. But the agency held fast on a provision that would disqualify captive insurance firms from membership.

Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro will get a boost in public visibility with a scheduled appearance on the Jan. 11 episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."