Mortgages

New rules proposed by international banking regulators would severely reduce, and possibly eliminate, banks' profitability in trading bonds that finance everything from home loans and apartment mortgages to auto loans and student debt, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Mortgage applications decreased 0.8% for the week ending Oct. 30 according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey — an improvement from the 3.5% drop registered the week prior.

While Texas has been among the strongest housing markets in the country over the past few years, the recent decline in oil and gas prices is affecting its housing market at a time when an overall sluggish economy can't pick up the slack.

BlueVirgo Capital Management is marketing $106 million of bonds backed by tax-lien certificates on property in New Jersey and Florida, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage has shifted Perry Hilzendeger to head up its mortgage servicing operations from his previous position of running its home loan default business.

Greystone has secured $88.6 million in financing to rehabilitate 20 multifamily properties for low-income residents in Tennessee.

Bank of America has paid more than $2.1 billion in consumer relief in the second quarter, making strides in paying the mortgage crisis-related penalties imposed by the Justice Department, an independent monitor announced Tuesday.

Five Oak Investment Corp, a real estate investment trust that manages a portfolio of agency and nonagency RMBS, is back with a second securitization this year, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

HomeFree-USA, a group that provides counseling to potential homebuyers, has opened a Baltimore office and introduced a campaign to promote neighborhoods in West Baltimore that had been ravaged by riots.

What's old is new again, but lenders should heed lessons from the past when re-entering the second-lien originations market.

The housing market displayed bright short-term and long-term trends in September, according to CoreLogic's Home Price Index.

American International Group Inc. CEO Peter Hancock dismissed activist investor Carl Icahn's proposal to split the company into three insurers, saying a division would limit earnings diversity and reduce the value of some tax assets.

Freddie Mac posted a third quarter loss of $501 million, its first quarterly loss in four years, but the government-sponsored enterprise will not request a draw from the U.S. Treasury.

Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment Corp. has purchased its first mortgage servicing rights portfolio, with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of roughly $1.4 billion.

Loan demand and conditions remained largely unchanged in the third quarter, with some easing of credit standards for consumer and auto loans, according to a survey of senior loan officers conducted by the Federal Reserve.

Though the deadline for compliance is more than two years away, lenders are already warning that they do not have enough time to comply with a new rule that requires institutions to report additional data to regulators on home loans.

The government-sponsored enterprise is working to rebuild partnerships with church organizations and housing financing agencies as part of a broader effort to make owning a home affordable for low- and moderate-income families.

Bank of America has agreed to pay $335 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it misled shareholders about risky mortgages and its dependence on the electronic mortgage registry known as MERS.

Defaults on commercial mortgage-backed securities declined from the end of the third quarter, compared to the previous quarter, according to Fitch Ratings.

Purchase mortgage originations are soaring because of high-credit score applicants, while refinance applications are declining among the same group of borrowers, according to Black Knight Financial Services.