Real estate

Purchases of new homes fell in December to a 10-month low, suggesting the post-election jump in mortgage rates pushed out potential buyers.

Profits at Astoria Financial in Lake Success, N.Y., fell along with net interest income in the fourth quarter.

Umpqua Holdings in Portland, Ore., reported an increase in profits, as a spike in fees compensated for lower interest income.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking a significant amount of information from lenders that specialize in making chattel loans to manufactured homebuyers due to a lack of reliable data on the market.

The phrase "it is what it is" came up several times as CEO Joseph Ficalora addressed analysts' questions about nixing plans to buy Astoria and the challenges of getting another deal done.

A tactic that helped define the height of homebuying madness in the U.S. in the years before the market collapsed is rearing its head again.

BankUnited said that its fourth-quarter earnings increased 12% from the same period in 2015, to $63.3 million, as strong gains in interest income more than offset rising expenses and a sharply lower gain on sales of loans.

BOK Financial was victimized by the effect of rising interest rates in the fourth-quarter profit, as losses on the company's hedge positions resulted in a profit decline.

Big increases in construction and commercial real estate lending boosted revenue at the Kansas City, Mo., company.

Appraisal management companies must self-regulate their prices unless they want the government to do it for them.

Sales of previously owned homes declined more than forecast in December, data from the National Association of Realtors showed, but sales for the full year were the strongest since 2006.

Wells Fargo & Co. charged some homebuyers fees to extend promised interest rates when the bank failed to process their mortgage applications on time, ProPublica reported, citing four former employees from the Los Angeles area.

Net income was also aided by a sharp drop in the provision for credit losses as chargeoffs on energy loans continued to decline.

The Virginia bank has agreed to buy Tidewater Mortgage's majority stake in Old Point Mortgage.

Rising mortgage rates are offsetting higher demand and stifling the market potential for existing-home sales, according to First American Financial Corp.

Expanded lending across a broad range of categories and extremely low unemployment in Hawaii pushed up the Honolulu bank's quarterly profit.

The foreclosure presale inventory rate fell year over year by 30% in December, signaling the most improvement of any year on record, according to Black Knight Financial Services.

Quarterly profit fell at SunTrust Banks in Atlanta as noninterest expense rose 8.4% and its loan-loss provision increased.

The Connecticut bank said a spike in business lending and residential mortgages gave its fourth-quarter earnings a boost.

As the country's homes for sale inventory declines, prices and the percentage of homes going under contract quickly are rising, according to Redfin.