Originations

Many institutional investors are refusing to purchase mortgages loans until they get assurance from the CFPB that they won't have to pay for others' mistakes. Their pullback could further the slow the issuance of private-label mortgage bonds this year, a huge concern at a time when the majority of home loans are insured by Fannie, Freddie and the FHA.

The Federal Home Loan Bank System was designed to provide liquidity to community lenders and traditional insurers, not to unregulated lenders that circumvent the membership rules.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's indirect response to Quicken Loans' Super Bowl 50 commercial implicitly warns consumers to be wary of technology, which points to a bigger problem: does the CFPB even know what it wants from the mortgage industry?

Funding needed to construct houses is fairly plentiful, but homebuilders are still having trouble lining up financing to purchase and develop land. As a result, buildable lots are in short supply — and far more expensive.

The San Francisco Bay Area housing market has seen values that have risen to unsustainable levels, according to Fitch Ratings.

The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index fell 1.7 points to 81.5 in January, reflecting the effects of decreasing housing affordability.

The nonbank mortgage sector ended 2015 with 12,300 more full-time employees than in December 2014.

Hotel property owners will discover that interest rates have climbed, if they try to refinance loans this year, Fitch Ratings said.

Wells Fargo has reached a $16.2 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit regarding an alleged kickback scheme involving the shuttered Owings Mill, Md.-based Genuine Title.

Mortgage credit availability decreased in January, on a decline in some Federal Housing Administration and conventional offerings, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Genworth's U.S. mortgage insurance business earned $179 million in 2015, but the parent company lost $615 million as it still has problems with its long-term care insurance product.

Mortgage lenders are ramping up marketing and point-of-sale processes, in order to prepare for an environment in which home sales are expected to cool down, according to a new report by Stratmor Group.

Mortgage professional hiring and new job appointments for the week ending Feb. 5.

A number of bankers used quarterly earnings calls to assure investors that they are carefully monitoring their exposure to commercial real estate at a time when regulators are expressed concern about eroding underwriting standards.

Financial companies from Quicken Loans to SoFi will be advertising in Sunday's game — a rare sight in recent years — despite the estimate $5 million price tag.

Buying remained better than renting in certain situations, but members of the millennial generation continued to have reasons to rent instead of buy, according to Zillow.

Arbor Commercial Mortgage has created an online loan-origination service for multifamily lenders.

Mortgage rates for 30-year loans fell to the lowest level since late April, reducing borrowing costs as the housing market enters its key selling season.

The rate of home price recovery during the seven years that a foreclosure remains on a consumer's credit report is one measure of whether borrowers who strategically defaulted made the right choice by walking away. But the results vary, depending on when, where and in what price tier that borrowers defaulted.

Borrowers who walked away from underwater mortgages are coming back to the market. Some lenders are ready to give them a second chance.