Technology

As the mortgage industry heads into the New Year, National Mortgage News is taking a look at the biggest trends and topics that will shape 2015.

The Servicing Trailblazer Award acknowledges a servicer or vendor initiative, product or platform that uses technology to optimize mortgage portfolio management and ensures efficient communication with borrowers, investors and the mortgage servicing support industry. Learn about this year's finalists and see who won the 2014 MT Award.

Purchases of new homes unexpectedly declined in November to a four-month low, underscoring a lack of momentum this year in residential real estate.

Two electronic document management software companies — Axacore Inc.and Scrypt Inc. — will merge effective Dec. 31 under the Scrypt name.

The U.S. housing market has improved modestly since the beginning of the year, according to Freddie Mac's latest Multi-Indicator Market Index.

Home prices rose more than economists estimated in October as rising employment and falling interest rates boosted buyer demand.

Many mortgage originators waste money and get a small return on their investment because they make one or more mistakes when contacting their past, present and future clients by email.

Refinance volume may be waning, but lenders' reliance on consumer direct tools will only increase next year. Plus, the rise of mini-correspondents will keep the warehouse lending renaissance going strong in 2015.

Corporate landlords are benefiting from the worst rental-housing shortage in more than a decade as construction trails demand and more Americans opt to lease rather than buy.

Mortgage companies must properly vet their third-party vendors to ensure that there is no litigation, fraud allegations, or other risky behavior that might create risk for them.