Mortgages

Borrowers with loans secured by personal rather than real property made up 46% of manufactured housing borrowers in 2019 and of this group, only 5% used the loans to refinance.

Housing experts and advocates disagree on the biggest factor in advancing the Black homeownership rate — and that's part of the problem.

Storm-related reconstruction costs — a large share of which may be concentrated in the New York City area — are estimated to total $1.9 trillion for water damage and $8.5 trillion for wind damage.

Housing value growth in April hit a 15-year high as the inventory squeeze created gridlock between baby boomer sellers and millennial buyers, according to CoreLogic.

The funding requests break sharply with the Trump administration's calls to eliminate key housing funds and backing for community development financial institutions. The White House also wants to substantially increase the budgets of the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration.

Also: Cloudvirga merges with Stewart Information Services, home price growth makes loans risky and rates dip again.

The increasing regulatory costs may give the Biden administration reason to encourage the rollback of some zoning restrictions that hamper construction.

This is the multi-hyphenate company’s sixth deal since the start of 2020 — a series of acquisitions in a variety of sectors within the industry, ranging from analytics to artificial intelligence.

The plan "is part of a larger democratic attack on home ownership that includes an increase in the taxes on capital gains as well as an end to 1031 exchanges for the sale of property," writes the head of Whalen Global Advisors.

The steady pace of refinance activity has also continued, as borrowers seek to take advantage of sub-3% rates.

The ongoing CARES Act foreclosure moratoria may have led to distressed borrowers abandoning their homes, according to Attom Data Solutions.

Rather than completing another equity raise, the five-year-old mortgage technology company went looking for a partner.

Nonprofits connecting Historically Black Colleges and Universities to mortgage career education courses seek to increase the number of Black professionals in the field, who in turn may help to increase homeownership among underserved populations.

Average days to close dropped closer to pre-pandemic levels in April, according to ICE Mortgage Technology.

The company, on the cusp of going public via a merger, recently added Wells Fargo to its client roster.

While purchases increased, refinancing activity slowed considerably compared to its pace over the past month.

Purchase contracts for the three months through April surged 85% from a year earlier to 3,487, the builder said in a statement after the close of trading Tuesday.

While elevated prices are acting as brake on demand, mortgage rates near historic lows and elevated backlogs suggest steady residential construction gains in coming months that will help contribute to economic growth.

The cloud-based mortgage closing platform’s Series D round earned $150 million for the company.

The deal adds to the burgeoning technology stack at the Houston-based title underwriter, which added NotaryCam in December.