Mortgages

Previously owned homes sold in May at the fastest pace since November 2009, driven by first-time buyers and indicating budding momentum in the residential real estate market.

A Lone Star Funds affiliate agreed to buy U.S. apartment landlord Home Properties Inc. in a transaction valued at about $7.6 billion, including debt.

Many lenders may not have been ready for the CFPB's new mortgage disclosure rule if it took effect on Aug. 1 as planned. Now a slip-up by the agency itself has given lenders a two-month reprieve.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California has indicted Robert Farrace of Modesto, Calif., on charges of wire fraud in connection to a short-sale scheme.

Varde Partners has closed a $500 million fund that will invest in real estate securities, the firm announced this week.

U.S. consumers are increasingly using their credit cards rather than tapping home-equity credit lines to pay debts or finance a big purchase, according to Sanford C. Bernstein.

KB Home rose the most in three months after reporting fiscal second-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates and a jump in orders for houses.

Mortgage professional hiring and new job appointments for the week ending June 19.

Black and Hispanic home-loan applicants in New York are more than twice as likely to be denied as white applicants, a study by StreetEasy found.

The number of homes classified as serious delinquencies fell 2% from March to April, as industry players continue to use short sales and other techniques, according to the advocacy group Hope Now.

Pressure from community groups forced Valley National Bancorp to strengthen its commitment to lend in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods in order to win approval for a Florida acquisition. Other banks, too, are now placing CRA efforts front-and-center as they aim to sell deals to the public and their regulators.

Stonegate Mortgage Corp. is rolling out a new system that it says will give home-loan investors greater ability to handpick the debt they want to buy.

InHouse Connexions has released a new software product for commercial lenders and appraisers for valuing properties.

FHA tries to clarify what loan defects will bring the harshest penalties to guide lenders and instill more confidence.

A technical error made by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has become a saving grace for lenders who had pushed, begged and pleaded for more time to comply with a new mortgage disclosure rule.

It turns out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's failure to file a two-page form to Congress on time was the unspecified "administrative error" that delayed the effective date for new mortgage disclosure rules.

A flood of ex-homeowners may be ready to re-enter the mortgage market over the next five years, according to a TransUnion report.

Homebuyers snapped up properties more quickly in May, the brokerage firm Redfin said.

Radian Group in Philadelphia has agreed to purchase $389 million of its convertible senior notes.

The deal, called New Residential Mortgage Loan Trust 2015-1, is the company’s first of the year; it completed three last year.