Real estate

The Houston housing market still runs the risk of a pullback, based on a range of economic conditions affecting the city, according to Fitch Ratings.

Confidence among homebuilders climbed in August to the highest level in almost a decade, indicating the residential real estate market is making strides.

Applications for mortgages for new purchases fell 4% in July compared to June, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Jones Lang LaSalle in Chicago has agreed to acquire Oak Grove Commercial Mortgage, to expand its debt-finance offerings.

Wells Fargo's head of mortgage lending, Mike Heid, will retire in October. The San Francisco company will promote Franklin Codel, head of mortgage production, to succeed Heid as head of Wells Fargo Home Lending.

Consumers' growing confidence about their ability to qualify for a mortgage is generating more foot traffic, sales orders and loan volume for some of the nation's largest homebuilders.

Housing demand and prices in urban centers is growing at a faster pace than the overall market, according to the newest quarterly report from Fitch Ratings.

Home shoppers in San Francisco needed incomes of $267,780 to become owners of a typical house in the second quarter as prices soared to a record.

Homeowners and appraisers are getting farther apart on their perceptions of housing values, according to Quicken Loans.

Home prices rose in the vast majority of U.S. metro areas in the second quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Foreclosure inventory and completed foreclosures declined drastically during June, real estate analytics firm CoreLogic found in its monthly survey.

PHH Corp. reported losses of $62 million for the second quarter, driven by major increases in operating expenses and a $46 million loss in the servicing segment.

Essent Guaranty did $7.23 billion of new insurance written in the second quarter, the second highest volume in the company's brief existence.

Consumers have soured on the housing market as more people hold a negative perspective regarding their personal finances and the overall economy, Fannie Mae reported in its July 2015 National Housing Survey.

Employment in the mortgage banking and broker sector has grown 5.8% since June 2014.

Capital One Financial is in exclusive talks with General Electric to buy the company's health-care finance unit, people familiar with the matter said.

Bank of America is offering $1.2 billion of mostly delinquent home loans, extending a series of sales by lenders seeking to pare holdings and meet demand by investment firms for soured mortgages.

Stonegate Mortgage reported a large increase in second-quarter profit on higher originations and a larger servicing portfolio.

NMI Holdings Inc., the parent company of National Mortgage Insurance, lost $10.4 million in the second quarter, compared with a $12.9 million loss one year prior.

With purchase mortgages poised to supplant an expected drop in refinancing, here's a look at the 10 markets with the biggest year-over-year pickup in home sales.