Industries

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.

President Obama's administration, citing concern about the origin of funds used for all-cash purchases of luxury real estate, said it is stepping up scrutiny of transactions in New York and Miami.

Social media offers a unique opportunity to make personal connections online, but mortgage lenders should tread lightly when using this channel as a lead source for new borrower prospects.

Midtown Manhattan, once the pinnacle of U.S. office markets, is facing a jump in large, empty work spaces as new towers open and tenants spread out across the city, including outer boroughs that businesses once shunned.

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.

Auction.com has rebranded at the corporate level to Ten-X, as the company begins to grow other segments beyond its auction-based platform.

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."

Greystone in New York has hired Gregory Forester to lead a new group for hospitality-focused lending and investing.

The commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquency rate finished 2015 at a six-year low, according to Fitch Ratings.

Greater consumer confidence about the economy is generating increased foot traffic at model homes and the largest backlog of sales orders since 2007, according to executives at builder KB Home.

CrediFi, a New York-based provider of commercial property data, is launching CMBS Suite, which it said is an information resource for lenders looking to refinance securitized commercial mortgages.

But the strong demand for tax credits from those projects is also whittling down the investment returns as their riskiness declines, according to a new report by the New York-based accounting firm CohnReznick.

A recent tax change will provide more stability to banks and developers that use the low-income housing tax credit program, and the supply of below-market-rate apartments should increase as a result. But it's not enough to create the economic incentives needed to meet skyrocketing demand for affordable housing in the U.S.

Mortgage credit availability decreased in December on reduced affordable, low-down-payment loan programs, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The Federal Reserve's interest rate increase has commercial real estate debt and equity financing players even more upbeat about their prospects in 2016.

Consumers became more encouraged by the housing market in December, as they reflected on their higher wages compared to a year earlier, Fannie Mae said.

Owens Realty Mortgage has promoted its chief financial officer, Bryan Draper, to chief executive and president.