Mortgages

Greystone in New York has hired Gregory Forester to lead a new group for hospitality-focused lending and investing.

Eagle Bancorp in Bethesda, Md., has hired four bankers to a develop a business line making Federal Housing Administration-insured loans for multifamily rental properties.

The commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquency rate finished 2015 at a six-year low, according to Fitch Ratings.

Greater consumer confidence about the economy is generating increased foot traffic at model homes and the largest backlog of sales orders since 2007, according to executives at builder KB Home.

Employment at nonbank mortgage lenders and brokers was down in November, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

CrediFi, a New York-based provider of commercial property data, is launching CMBS Suite, which it said is an information resource for lenders looking to refinance securitized commercial mortgages.

Wells Fargo & Co. has promoted Carmen Bell to senior vice president of its mortgage default servicing unit.

A flattening of the yield curve could spell good news for the mortgage market, according to Fitch Ratings.

JPMorgan Chase has appointed a new head of mortgage servicing to replace Mike Weinbach, who recently stepped down from the role to become the chief executive of mortgage banking.

But the strong demand for tax credits from those projects is also whittling down the investment returns as their riskiness declines, according to a new report by the New York-based accounting firm CohnReznick.

A recent tax change will provide more stability to banks and developers that use the low-income housing tax credit program, and the supply of below-market-rate apartments should increase as a result. But it's not enough to create the economic incentives needed to meet skyrocketing demand for affordable housing in the U.S.

Some lenders have asked whether the bureau would adjust its so-called resubmission guidelines — which determine whether lenders have to refile data based on errors found in samples — and it has responded with a request for further industry input.

Mortgage professional hiring and new job appointments for the week ending Jan. 8.

Mortgage credit availability decreased in December on reduced affordable, low-down-payment loan programs, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The Federal Reserve's interest rate increase has commercial real estate debt and equity financing players even more upbeat about their prospects in 2016.

Ditech Financial, a subsidiary of Walter Investment Management, is exiting the distributed retail mortgage production channel.

Consumers became more encouraged by the housing market in December, as they reflected on their higher wages compared to a year earlier, Fannie Mae said.

Owens Realty Mortgage has promoted its chief financial officer, Bryan Draper, to chief executive and president.

Forget bigger is better. Several private-equity-backed lenders are making loans to small landlords, who represent the biggest chunk of the home-rental market and get less help from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than they once did.

Mortgage rates rang in the new year by keeping below 4%, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.