Mortgages

Purchase loan volume increased in December, reversing a four-month decline, according to the mortgage data firm Ellie Mae.

The government has added further protections to reverse mortgage borrowers' spouses who are not named in the loan agreement, but placed conditions under which they are ineligible for older protections.

Before the Dodd Frank Act went into effect in 2010, the residential mortgage market was in an entirely different state — particularly in regards to servicing. Several large servicers dominated the market, but ultimately shed most of their servicing assets, creating a substantially large segment of midsize servicers.

Aiming to address a nationwide shortage of affordable housing, FHA has launched a risk-sharing pilot program that it hopes will encourage community development lenders to finance the rehabilitation of smaller multifamily apartments.

Lenders could save time and money by offering homeowners the opportunity to finance the purchase of a rooftop solar system into a new mortgage.

Arch Capital Group is repurposing a subsidiary to insure mortgages that are headed for private securitizations. Insuring such loans separately from the unit that works with Fannie and Freddie lets Arch offer more favorable terms to lenders.

You can team up with another mortgage originator to make sure you act on your marketing plan.

Mortgage applications were down for the first time this year as both purchase and refinance activity decreased.

The city of St. Paul, Minn., has reached a settlement with two landlords in a long-running federal lawsuit in which the city is accused of hurting minority tenants by aggressively enforcing its building codes, thereby reducing the supply of affordable housing.

Sales of single-family homes in Connecticut rose 2.4% compared to the same period a year earlier.

More than 300,000 South Floridians who lost their homes during the housing bust could be eligible to own again over the next eight years.

In another sign of a slowdown in the housing recovery, home values ticked up by 1.5% in the New York metropolitan area, including North Jersey, in the 12 months ending in November.

Hudson City Bancorp in Paramus, N.J., reported lower quarterly profitsas its loan book keeps shrinking.

The business of bundling riskier U.S. mortgages into bonds without government backing is gearing up for a comeback. Just don't call it subprime.

As the key spring homeselling season approaches, buyers are finding deals on new houses as builders focus on boosting revenue.

At a hearing Tuesday, GOP lawmakers hammered FHFA Director Mel Watt for four hours over his recent decisions to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy loans with lower downpayments and provide money to two affordable housing trust funds.

FHA warned about possible slow down during peak hours and so far processing is proceeding better than expected.

D.R. Horton, the nation's largest homebuilder, has found success in marketing new homes to the underserved niche of first-time buyers.

Homeowners associations seeking unpaid dues are seizing on a court decision allowing them to foreclose on properties ahead of banks, and the FHFA is litigating to defend Fannie and Freddie mortgages. Private lenders, meanwhile, are trying to keep the problem from spreading to more states.

A majority of small bank executives are concerned about the impact of new regulations on their mortgage lending business, according to an industry trade group.