Mortgages

Vestin Realty Mortgage I Inc. in Las Vegas said it will seek to remove its common stock from trading on Nasdaq.

Sales of previously owned homes slumped in November to the lowest level since April of last year as a change in industry rules lengthened the amount of time it took buyers to close on a deal.

Home prices are likely to decline because of the increase in short-term interest rates, but observers are split on whether it will hurt or help sales.

Home prices rose in October as the improving job market stirred competition for a dwindling inventory of listings.

One factor usually overlooked is the supply of single-family homes that are locked up as rentals.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is giving private mortgage insurers some hope this holiday season that they might get a chance to offer deeper mortgage insurance on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family loans.

While marketing services agreements dominated the conversation around compliance in the latter half of 2015, loan officer compensation will be under more scrutiny during 2016.

The recovery in the housing market will slow dramatically over the next 10 months, according to Weiss Analytics.

Some mortgage investors are refusing to buy home loans that are at risk of violations of new consumer-disclosure rules. The problem appears to be worst among nonagency jumbo loans purchased by private investors.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has lowered the asset-size threshold to qualify for escrow exemptions for higher-priced mortgage loans.

American Mortgage Consultants has bought JCIII & Associates, in a combination of providers of mortgage due diligence and consulting.

The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority issued more than $400 million of bonds in 2015 to finance mortgages at below-market interest rates for low- to moderate-income first-time homebuyers, according to authority officials.

Rising rates could slow the runoff from refinancings and add stickier purchase loans to servicers' portfolios. That's the good news.

President Obama is expected to sign a bill passed by both the House and Senate that grants extensions on a number of tax benefits enjoyed by individuals and corporations, including a number of temporary provisions that the real estate industry sought.

National Cooperative Bank has formed a partnership to invest $40 million in an effort to provide loans for resident-owned manufactured home communities.

Sen. Bob Corker championed a provision he added to the budget bill that would temporarily prevent the Treasury Department from recapitalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and discussed other banking priorities in a sitdown interview.

Mortgage professional hiring and new job appointments for the week ending Dec. 18.

Fannie Mae's final risk-sharing transaction of the year was with reinsurers.

All servicers that are part of the national mortgage settlement — except Ocwen Financial — passed metrics testing in the first half of the year, according to the settlement's monitor.

Lenders continued to ease loan standards across all types of mortgage products in the fourth quarter and they expect the trend to continue, according to Fannie Mae.