Underwriting

Equitable Group Inc. and Home Capital Group Inc. are reaping a windfall from Canada's tighter mortgage regulations.

Sachem Capital Corp., a hard-money mortgage lender that makes short-term loans to investors, has raised $10 million in gross proceeds from a public offering of 2 million common shares.

Waterstone Mortgage is now qualifying borrowers without a traditional credit history for both its conventional and government mortgage programs.

The incentives are stronger than ever to work toward standardizing the documentation, language and process for loans in commercial mortgage-backed securities to be combined with PACE financing.

Liberty Home Equity, a subsidiary of Ocwen Financial, is offering a new private-market alternative to Federal Housing Administration-insured reverse mortgages.

A new wave of mortgage production technologies empower lenders to create a more personalized approach to serving borrowers compared with the ubiquitous loan origination systems created over 10 years ago.

Almost two-thirds of consumers think they must be debt-free to get home financing when in fact they can have debt-to-income levels as high as 43% or greater, according to Wells Fargo.

With nearly half of homeowners renovating in the next two years, HELOCs stand as the most likely form of lending sought out by consumers, according to TD Bank.

After the government-sponsored enterprise patch expires, "near prime" loans over the 43% debt-to-income ratio should be qualified mortgages if they have compensating factors, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

With affordability still an issue despite falling interest rates and harnessed home value growth, lenders further loosened credit standards in June, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.