Underwriting

The purchase mortgage share increased 15 percentage points in the first five months of 2017 to 68% of all closed loans in May, according to Ellie Mae.

Mortgage application activity increased slightly from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Traditional partnerships with lenders have been eroded by compliance strains and new incentives to control more of the homebuying transaction.

Defaults on first-lien mortgages fell 5 basis points in May from the previous month, dropping to their lowest level in a year, according to the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Index.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said a long period of low interest rates may have contributed to "high and rising" home prices in several countries, cautioning against forgetting the lessons of the 2007-09 housing crisis.

The young adult homeownership rate should increase by 1.5 percentage points over the next two decades as education attainment among racial and ethnic minorities continues to rise.

With refinancing coming in a little stronger than expected and underwriting loosening, Fannie Mae has slightly increased its forecast for total volume in 2017.

Mortgage rates increased for the first time in over a month, but the increase might be short-lived, according to Freddie Mac.

The move follows mounting criticism that many homeowners using property assessments to finance energy efficiency upgrades can neither understand, nor afford, the terms of deals.

Wintrust Mortgage has committed to funding $40 million in below-market fixed interest-rate loans in the Chicago area through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

Mortgage applications increased 2.8% from one week earlier as refinancings hit their highest level since November, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Houston-area homebuyers snapped up a record number of houses in May and drove the region's median sales price to unprecedented levels.

The gap between what homeowners believe their home is worth and what the actual value widened for the sixth consecutive month in May, according to Quicken Loans.

Home sales and prices in the Baltimore area continued to climb in May, as buyers vied for properties in a market with historically low inventory.

A loan securitization launched by Mill City has the largest concentration of seasoned negative-amortization loans seen in a residential mortgage-backed securities deal since the financial crisis.

American International Group will receive $590 million in gross proceeds from the sale of Arch Capital Group stock it received in the United Guaranty Corp. transaction.

Median prices for single-family houses and condominiums on Maui increased by double-digit percentages in May as low inventory prompted buyers to snap up properties at a rapid pace.

Mortgage credit availability declined in May as lenders reduced the number of government-guaranteed products they market by nearly 2%.

The number of first-time single-family homebuyers has hit a peak not seen since 2005 and is expected to spur the origination of more mortgages with higher loan-to-value ratios.

Mortgage rates dropped for the fourth consecutive week and hit their lowest level in nearly seven months, according to Freddie Mac.