Mortgages

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.

Shares of the digital real estate company fell as much as 16% Wednesday.

Volumes came in higher for purchases and refinances, as well as for both conventional and government products.

Northern and East Coast towns have replaced hotspots of the past two years in Florida and the Rocky Mountains region.

Its "enhanced" oversight procedures now include a multilayered review process and if discriminatory bias is confirmed, an appraiser "will be subject to removal," the department said

The Chicago-based lender will provide up to $8,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance to underserved potential home buyers.

During a hearing on racial bias in home valuation, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau questions the Appraisal Foundation's "weird" regulatory structure.

Foreclosure prevention actions overall fell for the sixth time in seven months in October, according to the FHFA.

The reductions in the multifamily goals for 2023 to 2024 compared to those from the period before suggest that these goals will have little, if any, impact on the GSEs' multifamily operations in future years, writes a former principal economist with the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The breaks for some lower-income borrowers are welcomed, but the use of debt-to-income as a differentiator could complicate originations at a challenging time, lenders say.

The share of loans with suspended payments remained steady as 2022 ended, but that could change this year if unemployment increases in line with forecasts, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Currently, there's no standard mechanism for lenders to easily access this information.

LOs are building relationships to hesitant consumers by offering seminars and online videos that answer the questions they're afraid to ask.