Originations

Since breaking above 7% in November, the 30-year fixed is now down nearly a full percentage point, Freddie Mac said.

The private mortgage insurer is purchasing Agents National and Boston National from Incenter, which itself is a unit of Finance of America.

Despite lower interest rates, both purchases and refinances declined after recent surges, while average loan amounts have gradually crept up to start the year.

The latest quarterly numbers from TransUnion show both closed end products and HELOCs rose over the course of the past year as mortgage originations fell.

Although housing values have noticeably flattened in recent months, the share of buyers expecting the search for a new residence to become harder grew, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

Prices also fell roughly 0.3% in November from a month before, according to a seasonally adjusted data of national prices from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller.

The company spent the last two months cutting sales, marketing and payroll expenses but couldn't achieve a breakeven point, its CEO said.

This move comes at a time when the largest HECM producer sold its operations to a rival and another filed for bankruptcy.

The National Association of Realtors index of contract signings to purchase previously owned homes increased 2.5% in December to 76.9, according to a release Friday.

Despite the significant annual increase, home buyers saw signs of affordability returning in the latter months of the year.

But several recent news developments are creating the perception that the risk of a recession is on the wane and that could end the downward pressure on rates.

Approximately 20 million U.S. residents – the majority of which were Gen Zers – took out their first debt product between the start of 2019 and mid-2022, a TransUnion study found.

Volumes came in higher for purchases and refinances, as well as for both conventional and government products.

Northern and East Coast towns have replaced hotspots of the past two years in Florida and the Rocky Mountains region.

The Chicago-based lender will provide up to $8,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance to underserved potential home buyers.

The breaks for some lower-income borrowers are welcomed, but the use of debt-to-income as a differentiator could complicate originations at a challenging time, lenders say.

Currently, there's no standard mechanism for lenders to easily access this information.

LOs are building relationships to hesitant consumers by offering seminars and online videos that answer the questions they're afraid to ask.

The action fulfills a promise made previously by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to add an overarching framework for maintaining equitable practices.

The Federal Reserve's focus on what's happening in the labor market makes an economic downturn likely, but many watching the markets expect a policy easing in the second half of the year and growth following that.