Originations

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is giving private mortgage insurers some hope this holiday season that they might get a chance to offer deeper mortgage insurance on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family loans.

While marketing services agreements dominated the conversation around compliance in the latter half of 2015, loan officer compensation will be under more scrutiny during 2016.

The recovery in the housing market will slow dramatically over the next 10 months, according to Weiss Analytics.

Some mortgage investors are refusing to buy home loans that are at risk of violations of new consumer-disclosure rules. The problem appears to be worst among nonagency jumbo loans purchased by private investors.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has lowered the asset-size threshold to qualify for escrow exemptions for higher-priced mortgage loans.

National Cooperative Bank has formed a partnership to invest $40 million in an effort to provide loans for resident-owned manufactured home communities.

Sen. Bob Corker championed a provision he added to the budget bill that would temporarily prevent the Treasury Department from recapitalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and discussed other banking priorities in a sitdown interview.

Lenders continued to ease loan standards across all types of mortgage products in the fourth quarter and they expect the trend to continue, according to Fannie Mae.

KeyCorp will keep and expand First Niagara Financial Group's Buffalo, N.Y.-based mortgage operations to spur along its return to being a player in residential lending.

Mortgage rates increased for the second week in a row as the Federal Reserve decided to raise short-term interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

TowneBank in Suffolk, Va., has agreed to buy Monarch Financial Holdings in Chesapeake, Va., for $220.6 million in stock.

There could be more willingness among lenders to roll back self-imposed requirements for agency loans in 2016, but secondary-market conditions will be mixed for mortgage sellers while rates and costs are poised to rise.

Mortgage stocks for the most part saw price per share gains in the wake of the Federal Open Markets Committee decision to raise short-term rates.

Real estate finance services provider Chronos Solutions in Frisco, Texas, has acquired San Diego-based mortgage technology company Cogent Road.

Credit scores on closed loans have declined for six consecutive months, according to the latest Ellie Mae Origination Insight report.

A new report from Fannie Mae suggests the millennial generation is getting a move on.

Mortgage applications declined 1.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending Dec. 11 compared to a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Genworth Financial Inc. has named Kevin Schneider, currently executive vice president of global mortgage insurance, as its chief operating officer.

New-home construction rebounded in November, led by gains in single-family dwellings that signal the residential real estate industry will continue to support growth in the world's largest economy.

Affordable apartments have not been this hard to find in decades, and a new Mortgage Bankers Association study suggests there are ways existing public-private partnerships could do more to address the concern.