Originations

Home equity in the first quarter rose to $11.7 trillion, the highest since 2007, according to a Federal Reserve report.

Applications for new-home purchases in May fell 9% from the previous month, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Alternative data used to score "credit invisibles" may do more harm than good. That's because in areas like employment and insurance, no credit score is often better than a bad one

Mortgage rates jumped to an eight-month high, making home purchases costlier as investors prepare for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

The mortgage lender Nationstar Mortgage Holdings is pouring a lot of energy into a digital and mobile homebuying platform called Xome. The strategy could attract tech-savvy millennials but carries plenty of risks including whether consumers would be improperly steered to its products.

More than a dozen housing groups are urging lawmakers to pass legislation that would grant lenders a formal grace period for implementing new disclosure forms later this summer, arguing that the industry needs greater certainty than the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has so far provided.

Stewart Title Guaranty has agreed to offer a voluntary Deloitte & Touche compliance service to its independent title and settlement agents.

Two recent settlements show how far the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is willing to go to pursue lenders it believes skirted the loan officer compensation rules.

Renting a home is a better way to accumulate wealth than buying a home in many U.S. cities, according to the latest Buy vs. Rent report.

Mortgage applications increased 8.4% on an adjusted basis from a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Hovnanian Enterprises fell the most since 2011 after Chief Executive Officer Ara Hovnanian said he was disappointed following a widening in the company's quarterly loss and drop in its profit margin.

The gap between how much homeowners think their home is worth compared to appraisers' values has grown wider, according to a Quicken Loans report.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's "qualified mortgage" rule has put a damper on the recovery of the housing market, according to an American Bankers Association survey.

The New York City Housing Development Corp. board approved a $680 million inaugural sustainable neighborhood bond transaction, expected to price next week.

Coastal Banking in Beaufort, S.C., has promoted the head of its mortgage banking division to president of CBC National Bank.

Community Investment Corp. has raised $200 million from about three dozen banks to acquire and rehabilitate thousands of affordable rental-housing units in the Chicago area.

Small banks and nonbank lenders are originating commercial mortgages with lower credit quality than the loans originated by large banks, according to a Fitch Ratings report.

Millennials have been priced out of some of the biggest U.S. cities, with residential real estate prices rising even as wage growth remains elusive.

The regulatory burden for originators has not only been the main driver of acquisition activity in mortgages but also influences deal structures. Acquirers are looking to craft transactions so they don't get burned by targets' compliance lapses.

Securities issuers are increasingly worried that risk-retention requirements could hinder efforts to broaden the types of loans securitized through the private-label market as implementation for the new regulation nears.