Originations

Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wis., agreed to expand mortgage lending in minority neighborhoods to settle a federal probe into its fair-housing loan practices.

Home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose at a faster pace than projected in the year through March, reflecting a limited number of available properties on the market.

Existing home sales in May will increase by 5.8% from the same month last year, the real estate marketplace Auction.com predicts. The company also expects existing home sales to rise 2.9% from April.

Hundreds of lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle are pushing for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to grant a grace period for banks, credit unions and other lenders to comply with a new mortgage disclosure rule.

More powerful employment and wage gains are necessary to fuel home purchases, according to mortgage industry economists.

JPMorgan is marketing $379 million of securities backed by a pool of mostly 30-year, fixed-rate residential mortgages.

First Internet Bank of Indiana is expanding its residential mortgage lending in its home state by offering the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development loan guarantee program.

Mortgage professional hiring and new job appointments for the week ending May 22.

Fannie Mae has a pessimistic outlook on U.S. economic growth following underwhelming first-quarter numbers in 2015, though mortgage market optimism remains thanks to low interest rates.

The cost to rent housing grew at a faster rate than home values in April, as rising rents make it difficult for many consumers to afford a mortgage, according to Zillow's monthly real estate report.

Home purchase loans have once again taken the majority share of originations, although volume shrunk by 11% from the same time last year.

Purchases of previously owned homes unexpectedly fell in April, a sign the industry's recovery remains uneven.

Mortgage rates fell for the first time in a month, cutting costs for buyers during the housing market's busiest time of the year.

VidVerify, a new company started by a co-founder of Lenders One, produces online videos that educate borrowers on the milestones of the mortgage process, while helping lenders ensure regulatory compliance.

The Commercial Real Estate Financing portal allows investors to apply for financing through Auction.com with the company's preferred lenders.

Real estate investment trusts have near-universal anxiety over the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, a study by BDO USA, a financial advisory and consulting firm, found.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council is encouraging mortgage agencies to continue clarifying when lenders must repurchase defective loans.

The Korean-American bank is looking to diversify its balance sheet and revenue streams before it hits $10 billion in assets. The commercially focused lender hopes such efforts will help it once more regulation kicks in.

With older appraisers retiring and fewer and fewer college graduates entering the profession, industry observers say that, in five to 10 years, there won't be enough appraisers to handle the volume of home sales. For lenders, that could mean higher appraisal fees and long delays in closing loans — at a time when technology could be speeding up the process.

Weak economic growth in the first quarter did not temper Freddie Mac's projections for the mortgage market for the full year.