Real estate

During the third quarter, the negative equity rate dropped to 10.9%, representing roughly 5.3 million homeowners, from 13.4% a year before, Zillow reported.

Confidence among homebuilders surged in December to an 11-year high on prospects the election of Donald Trump will translate into a smaller regulatory burden on the industry.

The forecast for mortgage origination volume moved down for the first quarter of 2017 in the wake of the second interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in a decade, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

BOK Financial will take a roughly $17 million earnings hit due to a change in the fair value of its mortgage servicing rights and a corresponding hedge.

Higher rates and lower consumer confidence are expected to put a damper on existing home sales in 2017, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The inventory of starter homes is shrinking at an increasingly faster pace, leaving first-time homebuyers with fewer and more expensive options, according to Trulia.

Interest rates may climb to 3% on 10-year Treasuries by next year as deficits and inflation rise under a Donald Trump presidency and that would hurt the housing market, said Jeffrey Gundlach, chief investment officer of DoubleLine Capital.

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia in McLean has agreed to buy Eastern Virginia Bankshares in Glen Allen.

Millennials are the most optimistic about the state of the U.S. real estate market, while most American express favorable opinions about housing, according to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency finalized a rule Tuesday that will create a "duty to serve" for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help low- and moderate- income consumers, including encouraging a secondary market for manufactured housing loans.

The national foreclosure inventory decreased by nearly a third in October from a year earlier, CoreLogic reported.

Rising mortgage interest rates affect the volume of refinance and purchase originations, but don't necessarily spell bad news for home prices, explains Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan.

Canadian household confidence rose, boosted by improving sentiment about the national housing market, weekly telephone polling shows.

From the rising influence of millennials to shifting trends in home prices and housing inventory, here's a look at the top housing market trends for 2017.

Renasant in Tupelo, Miss., is the latest banking company to get out of loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

A California bank is planning to add mortgages and home equity lines to its product set.

The amount of equity homeowners hold grew by $726 billion, or 10.8%, in the third quarter of 2016 versus the year before, according to CoreLogic.

U.S. Bancorp in Minneapolis has raised its expectations for its net interest margin in the fourth quarter, citing the recent increase in benchmark rates.

Construction loans are a big source of interest income for community banks but also carry a lot of risk. A few fintech firms say their platforms can reduce the risk and improve the lending process.

Home price increases in the country's largest states fueled price appreciation nationwide in October, according to CoreLogic.