Originations

But the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is still near 7%, and that remains the overhang on the housing market, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage payments rose 10% year-over-year to an all-time high for March, Redfin said.

The Midwest was the main driver of the increase in pending sales, with a 10.6% jump, while contract signings in the South edged up 1.1%.

In an interview, Candor Technology's Sara Knochel recounts how she applies her childhood interest in languages and numbers to crucial home lending issues.

State and local governments borrowed nearly $9 billion for affordable housing so far this year — the most for the period in at least a decade.

Potential home buyers may be holding back in anticipation of lower rates to come in the second half of the year, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

UWM kicked off the new year as the number one lender in the U.S. in overall and wholesale production as well as purchase mortgage originations, but it has not been all smooth sailing.

A series of changes to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act go into effect on March 26 that closes the so-called "lead generation loophole" for telemarketing calls and texts.

But home prices declined from December, both the Federal Housing Finance Agency and S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller found, a possible precursor to a cooling market.

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage, the movements of which have been volatile in recent weeks, is expected to stay in the range of 6.5% for the first half of the year before trending down, Freddie Mac said.