Mortgage defaults

The Chicago Federal Home Loan Bank experienced a significant jump in mortgage originations in 2016 due to a "re-introduction" of its traditional Mortgage Partnership Finance loan product.

The developers of new loan-modification programs need to streamline application processes and stop making borrowers chase down useless documents.

The Basel III capital requirements are making it hard for banks to stay in the servicing business, said David Motley, president of Colonial Savings. Their exodus from the market indirectly hurts consumers, he argued.

Fannie Mae is making technological updates and implementing policy and operational changes as part of an effort to improve servicing.

Property valuation firm LRES has launched a new service that provides mortgage servicers with comprehensive lien alerts.

The sale will include Fannie Mae's sixth "community impact" pool of loans.

The number of foreclosures completed in December fell 40% from a year earlier, according to CoreLogic.

Homeowners are reaping the rewards of higher home prices, as the number of seriously underwater properties dropped by 1 million from one year ago, Attom Data Solutions said.

While Arch Capital had a slight increase in year-over-year net income to $64 million, the total was affected by $25 million of costs related to the purchase of United Guaranty.

The rise in home values is good news for homeowners looking to tap the equity in their homes to pay down debt or make big purchases, but some consumer groups fear it could lead to a new wave of loan defaults.

Loans that had modifications completed since 2014 are redefaulting faster than those modified in previous years, according to Fitch Ratings.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank, one of the biggest underwriters of bonds tied to U.S. commercial real estate, say now it's time to short indexes of the securities.

The Urban Institute's Housing Finance Policy Center has created a new initiative aimed at addressing skyrocketing mortgage servicing costs.

A homeowner's equity position is one of the many factors that drive property transitions between owner-occupied and rental status, according to a study from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Research Institute for Housing America.

Cerberus Capital Management is marketing its first securitization of reperforming mortgages of the year.

Late payments on securitized commercial mortgages fell modestly in January, bucking the recent trend.

Old Republic International's title insurance business had a 78% year-over-year increase in fourth-quarter net income, as net premiums earned were up by 13% and claims costs declined by 86%.

Nonprime mortgage securitization has roughly doubled each of the last two years, and it shows no signs of stopping, according to Fitch Ratings.

A $90 billion wave of maturing commercial mortgages, leftover debt from the 2007 lending boom, is laying bare the weak links in the U.S. real estate market.

Federal banking agencies have levied a $65 million fine against Fidelity National Financial subsidiary ServiceLink Holdings over deficiencies in the foreclosure-related services provided by its predecessor company.