Housing

New-home construction in the U.S. climbed in September, a sign residential real estate will bolster the world's largest economy.

The White House is pushing back on suggestions that it will cut a deal to recapitalize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the end of President Obama’s term, putting the pressure back on Congress for a solution.

Xome, a Nationstar Mortgage Holdings effort to automate the home-buying process, has launched a notary mobile app.

Confidence among homebuilders climbed in October to a 10-year high, a sign demand for housing may remain solid in the months to come.

Single-family home market values nationwide are expected to rise 3.6% in the coming year, according to Veros Real Estate Solutions, which said this is one of the best forecasts in almost two years.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau backed off some of its initial plans in its final rule requiring lenders to collect more data from mortgage borrowers, but industry representatives warned the agency had not gone far enough.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule Thursday that requires lenders to collect more information from borrowers as part of mortgage disclosures.

Executives in the mortgage industry must "take a page from the real estate community" and be more active in Washington and their state capitals, said outgoing Mortgage Bankers Association Chairman Bill Cosgrove.

Ellie Mae has agreed to purchase St. Louis-based Mortgage Returns, which provides customer-relationship management services.

Mortgage banking represented one weak spot in Wells Fargo's third-quarter results and company officials said that would likely be the case in the fourth quarter.

LendingTree already offers a Yelp-like community where consumers can rate loan officers. Now it has created a question-and-answer forum within its loan officer directory platform.

The nonprofit behind McGruff the Crime Dog has designated mortgage fraudsters as its next target.

Mortgage application volume fell 27.6% on an adjusted basis for the week ending Oct. 9, reversing the rush of the previous week caused by the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule becoming effective, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

PNC Financial Services Group reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as the lender cut costs to counter a decline in revenue.

Homeowners continue to give their properties a higher valuation than appraisers would, according to Quicken Loans.

National foreclosure inventory fell to 470,000, or 1.2% of all mortgaged homes in August, compared with 629,000, or 1.6% of all mortgaged homes in August 2014, CoreLogic reported Tuesday.

International buyers are accounting for the smallest share of California home sales in at least eight years as prices climb and investors from China, the biggest source of foreign purchases, slow buying.

In Bakersfield, Calif., a teacher on an average salary can afford 86% of the homes on the market. In Salt Lake City, that number drops down to only 26%.

A weak jobs report was enough to send mortgage rates into a downward spiral, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending Oct. 8.

U.S. homeowners continue to take advantage of rising house prices to dig themselves out of the hole created by the Great Recession.