Sekisui House Ltd. announced a $4.9 billion agreement on Thursday to buy MDC Holdings Inc., ikely the biggest U.S. purchase of a homebuilder by a Japanese company.

The Seattle bank's stock price fell in 2023 amid concerns over rising interest rates and its concentration of multifamily loans. The buyer is FirstSun Capital Bancorp, which raised $175 million as part of the deal.

Southern Bancorp in Little Rock, Arkansas, plans to put $250 million in equity capital it received from the Treasury Department to good use making mortgages and acquiring banks.

Credit unions have announced 11 deals for banks so far in 2023, five short of 2022's total.

National Mortgage News recounts some of the notable mergers and acquisitions completed in the past 12 months.

The deadline for a $28 million deal between Bancorp 34 and CBOA Financial was pushed later into 2024 after Bancorp 34, the buyer, announced it would restate third-quarter results to reflect a significant loss tied to a worsening commercial real estate credit.

Both companies have been at the center of other M&A transactions over the past two years, as each looked to expand their national footprint.

Financing costs have risen and consolidation has reduced the number of active players. Will policy changes shift the market's course?

The victory for Rithm, which began as a firm investing in mortgage-servicing rights, makes it a big player in money management now that it has Sculptor's $32.8 billion of assets.

The agreement includes funds for small-business lending and mortgages for low- and moderate-income borrowers in California and Massachusetts. It puts an end to questions about the fate of an $11.2 billion plan that Silicon Valley Bank inked before it failed in March.