Mortgages

The Long Island company is closing 69% of the retail home lending offices previously operated by Flagstar Bancorp. New York Community recently acquired Flagstar for $2.6 billion.

The relief previously only available to people with COVID-19 hardships has been opened up to all borrowers with imminent defaults, including non-occupants.

Prices also fell roughly 0.3% in November from a month before, according to a seasonally adjusted data of national prices from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller.

After Greg Tornquist's retirement, he shared the job with Rob Lux, who is staying onboard as the subservicer's COO.

The company spent the last two months cutting sales, marketing and payroll expenses but couldn't achieve a breakeven point, its CEO said.

Average scores remain unchanged but signs of payment stress keep emerging, with Fannie Mae's serious delinquency rate up for the first time since August 2020.

This move comes at a time when the largest HECM producer sold its operations to a rival and another filed for bankruptcy.

Despite 2022's slew of interest-rate hikes from Chair Powell and colleagues, financial conditions are the loosest since last February as investors bet fading inflation will allow the central bank to soon cease raising borrowing costs and then cut them later this year.

The bank holding company is taking the business purpose lender into the corporate fold and out of its own silo, executives said.

Alanna McCargo, president of the housing agency, is fulfilling her pledge to halve the waiting time for reperforming loans.

The National Association of Realtors index of contract signings to purchase previously owned homes increased 2.5% in December to 76.9, according to a release Friday.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency will be looking at the government-sponsored enterprises as a means of doing more to address renter affordability challenges.

The new automation integrates with the company's customer-facing Servicing Digital software, and is aimed at helping consumers find temporary assistance with payment hardships.

Despite the significant annual increase, home buyers saw signs of affordability returning in the latter months of the year.

But several recent news developments are creating the perception that the risk of a recession is on the wane and that could end the downward pressure on rates.

But late borrower payments slightly grew in November, with 18 metro areas reporting an increase, up from six metro areas in October, CoreLogic's report found.

Sales of new U.S. homes rose for a third month in December, wrapping up an otherwise disappointing year in which soaring borrowing costs stifled demand and weighed on the economy.

The U.S. economy expanded at a healthy pace in the fourth quarter, though an extended salvo of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes is seen jeopardizing growth prospects this year.

Mortgage prepayment rates also fell to a new low for the third consecutive month in December, according to Black Knight.

Approximately 20 million U.S. residents – the majority of which were Gen Zers – took out their first debt product between the start of 2019 and mid-2022, a TransUnion study found.