Mortgages

While the monthly amount decreased by only a few dollars in June, it was the first decline since late last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

There's divergence of opinions between one more rate hike this cycle and no further actions.

Purchases of new single-family homes fell 2.5% to an annualized 697,000 pace after a downward revision to the prior month, government data showed Wednesday.

The growing number of financially troubled customers and servicing transfers gone wrong helped to lower the overall industry score by 6 points, J.D. Power said.

Equity-rich mortgages — those that have a loan-to value ratio of 50% or lower, meaning the mortgage holder's equity stake is at least half the property's worth — made up some 49% of the national total in the second quarter of this year, according to a report by Attom, a real estate data provider.

The mortgage industry may be largely in the dark about the process, which could save homeowners potentially thousands of dollars a year.

The company also has been upgrading technology to manage its large servicing portfolio, which, with pending additions, is within reach of Chairman and CEO Jay Bray's $1 trillion goal.

Renovations, already the leading use for these borrowings, increased their share to nearly two-thirds of the products' market, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The decline occurred even as interest rates held steady, but average loan amounts shot up due to a heightened slowdown of federally sponsored activity, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The Mortgage Cadence's pipeline of potential customers has shifted from "niche players" to primarily nonbank lenders, Executive Vice President Joe Camerieri said.

Major firms cite costly devastating hurricanes and widespread litigation against the industry as reasons to sunset policies for an unspecified number of property owners.

In the Pacific region and Mountain states recorded real estate value drops compared to last year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency found.

A New Jersey federal jury sided with the subservicer's claims that the lender "fraudulently" took this sum in May 2016 when it was transferring back its portfolio.

"I do believe you'll begin to see some improvement, or increases, in new housing as we head into the back half of the year," Chief Financial Officer Jim Peters said in an interview. "We're hearing optimistic stuff from the builders we deal with."

The bottom five metros have an average five-year median home value appreciation of 35.46%.

Overall sentiment in the segment shows 30% of businesses expect market conditions to become more favorable for them over the next six months, while 26% said they would get worse, according to a new study.

The companies have requested an extension of the floating-rate loan, which matured in July, according to a servicer report.

Buying Sculptor Capital Management could lead the real estate investment trust to explore an offering for the origination and servicing business in the near to mid-term, BTIG said.

The acquiring company netted an incremental gain in shareholder buy-in with its previous postponement but not enough to push the transaction forward.

The top five metros have an average five-year median home value appreciation of 48.49%.