Housing

WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be able to evaluate and use new credit scoring models under a bill introduced in the House that seeks to create more competition in the credit scoring industry.

Many consumers misunderstand what is required to obtain a residential mortgage, according to a new Fannie Mae study.

Ditech has renewed its sponsorship of Kevin Harvick's No. 4 car which races for the Stewart-Has Racing team on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit.

U.S. Bancorp has plucked longtime lending executive Tom Wind from EverBank Financial to run its mortgage business.

Mortgage applications for new homes declined in November, although not as sharp a drop as is typical for this time of year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Mortgage rates rose for the week ending Dec. 10, on optimism tied to job growth and a possible rate hike by the Federal Reserve this month, according to Freddie Mac.

With a probable Federal Reserve rate increase on the horizon, title insurance providers are optimistic about future real estate transactions, according to First American Financial Corp.

San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston are in danger of becoming real estate bubbles, according to Zillow.

For renter households in the U.S., new research on the current market has told a persistently troublesome story, with falling vacancy rates pushing rents higher and forcing households to spend greater shares of their incomes on housing.

Mortgage applications rose 1.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending Dec. 4, compared to the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

High loan-to-value ratio lending is gaining ground, spurred by the reintroduction 12 months ago of GSE-backed products that only require a 3% down payment, according to Black Knight Financial Services.

Mortgage credit availability declined in November because of a reduction in the number of adjustable-rate mortgage programs, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Homeowners continue to overvalue their homes, in comparison to what appraisers believe, although the gap has narrowed for three straight months, according to Quicken Loans.

Luxury home prices fell in the third quarter, while the rest of the housing market rose in price, Redfin said.

More consumers expressed worries about the housing market, as prospects for higher income remained suppressed, Fannie Mae said.

Issues with upgrading software and ensuring pricing accuracy to comply with the consumer bureau's "integrated disclosures" have been magnified in wholesale loan transactions.

American Homes 4 Rent, the largest publicly traded U.S. single-family home landlord, agreed to acquire a smaller competitor, American Residential Properties, in a deal valued at $1.5 billion, including debt.

Mortgage rates went down as Treasury yields fell on weak manufacturing data, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Add retail customers to the list of groups raising concerns about possible high-pressure product-sales tactics at Wells Fargo; many of them are considering jumping ship in response, according to a new survey of customer attitudes at big banks. However, Wells' rivals shouldn't celebrate — they are at risk of losing customers, too, for a variety of reasons.

Private real estate investors and community-based financial institutions have developed innovative ways to preserve affordable-housing units that were in danger of losing subsidies, according to a new report.