Mortgages

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said the FICO credit-scoring model has drawbacks in price, predictiveness and market competition, and stakeholders should develop a more open-sourced model that uses artificial intelligence.

Smaller players face challenges when it comes to mortgage servicing rights, and larger ones have varying motivations, experts at an industry meeting say.

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage average resumed its climb that started in September, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury price still reflects views on inflation.

Fannie Mae's latest economic forecast no longer expects mortgage rates to go below 6% next year, and that is affecting its views on loan origination volume.

Contract closings increased 3.4% from a month earlier — the most since February — to a 3.96 million annualized rate, according to data released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.

Existing efforts to reform the Federal Home Loan Bank System may look dead on arrival in a Trump administration, but the proposed Department of Government Efficiency may not be able to resist such low-hanging fruit.

Apartment complexes will be the next major source of problems in the commercial real estate market after offices were hit hard in recent years, according to the short seller Carson Block.

Critical defects increased for the second consecutive three-month period, with appraisal-related errors nearly doubling, Aces Quality Management said.

The Federal Housing Administration wants to make it easier for mortgage applicants to use rental income received from boarders in the underwriting process.

Both purchases and refinances came in higher, with government-backed lending providing momentum, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.