Mortgages

Sales of new and existing single-family homes in the Albany, N.Y., area fell 10% in January from year-earlier levels, the Greater Capital Association of Realtors reported.

As 2019 got underway, weakness in the housing market drove the number of workers employed by nondepository mortgage companies down to a low not seen since August 2016.

New-home construction rebounded by more than expected in January amid strength in single-family starts and a nine-month high for permits, signaling the market is stabilizing thanks to lower mortgage rates.

Mortgage industry hiring and new job appointments for the week ending March 8.

Despite the pool of refinance candidates shrinking 30% from late 2017, the incentive for mortgage borrowers to refi shot up at the start of the year on interest rate declines, according to Black Knight.

Despite a lower rate of increase, 2019 equity gains could pull 350,000 households from being underwater on mortgages, according to CoreLogic.

Mr. Cooper Group took a net loss of $136 million in the fourth quarter after lower rates hurt the mark-to-market value of its larger mortgage servicing rights portfolio harder than its peers.

The pace of Colorado Springs-area homebuilding in 2019 continues to trail that of last year.

The increase in average mortgage rates this week should not affect the spring home purchase market because other factors remain strong, according to Freddie Mac.

Home sales slowed on Hawaii island and Kauai last month while median prices mostly rose, according to trade association statistics.

Hines Interests used the $755 million loan from Goldman and JPMorgan to take out a $505 million mortgage from two insurance companies, MetLife and New York LIfe.

Freddie Mac is broadly offering instant representation and warranty relief for automatically validated self-employment income following a test of the concept last year.

Homeowners are stepping up their renovation game this year, which could be good news for home improvement financing, but bad news for the overall housing market as consumers age in place.

Berkadia, a joint venture run by Berkshire Hathaway and Jefferies Financial Group, is acquiring real estate capital advisory firm Central Park Capital Partners to diversify its capital sources.

Assessing the implications of big tech's inevitable next run at the business of mortgage lending.

New York regulators rejected Fidelity National Financial's acquisition of Stewart Information Services because the combination would have a dominant share of title insurance in the state.

While Southern Nevada home prices pulled back in February, the median sale price for an existing home was still up nearly 8% year-over-year.

Millennial homebuyers took advantage of a winter lull in interest rates, using the opportunity to refinance their loans, according to Ellie Mae.

Mortgage applications decreased 2.5% from one week earlier, although conventional purchase loan volume and amount is on the rise, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

For the first time in seven years, median home prices in metro Denver declined year-over-year, according to a monthly update from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.