Originations

The company originated more loans to buy homes than Detroit-area rival No. 2 Rocket did in total during the fourth quarter.

Loan volumes fell for the third straight week, with depressed demand for government lending driving activity downward, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Cardinal Financial's utilization of the FICO alternative credit metric could help pave the way for broader use as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac move to adopt it.

Prices nationally rose 5.5% from a year earlier, according to data from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller.

The top five lenders have an average mortgage origination volume of more than $7.4 billion.

While mortgage volume should rise this year, the government-sponsored enterprise expects slightly less activity than it did back in January.

Despite limited inventory and rising prices, buying interest appears robust heading into peak season, but lenders are likely to find a more discerning consumer.

Across the nation, over 700,000 Black families are "income mortgage-ready," or able to spend 30% or less of their income on a home loan for the typical house in their local market.

The megalender and servicer Rocket reported annual origination volume in 2023 of $78.7 billion, a 40% decline from 2022.

The 30-year average rate got closer to 7% as central bank officials dashed near-term hopes of a cut, according to Freddie Mac.

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose in January by the most in nearly a year as buyers took advantage of lower mortgage rates at the start of 2024.

Mortgage application activity had its largest decline in a year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The company, which has paired down its operations to concentrate on reverse mortgages, got a similar notice in December.

U.S. new-home construction sank at the start of the year by the most since the onset of the pandemic, indicating the recovery in the housing market will be gradual as many buyers await a further decline in mortgage rates.

For the first time since mid-December, the Freddie Mac survey reports mortgage rates over 6.7%.

The company was able release credit reserves because of actual and forecasted prices that boosted net income, CEO Priscilla Almodovar said.

The government-sponsored enterprise financed 955,000 mortgages last year, down from the 1.8 million loans it backed in 2022.

The contract rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage increased 7 basis points in the week ended Feb. 9 to 6.87%, the highest since early December, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday. 

One depository has now joined two nonbanks in publicly announcing they're using the advanced score ahead of planned broader implementation by the agency market.

January volume increased 36% compared to the month before and the annual decline in activity was the lowest in almost two years, Optimal Blue said.