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After six consecutive weeks of dips, mortgage applications rose 8.6% in the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The jump in applications can be traced to mortgage rates falling to the lowest level in two months, prompting a small

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on Wednesday that due to “low usage” it is no longer extending expirations on certain temporary loan origination flexibilities for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The regulator is also advancing permanent changes to be made in

As lawmakers take up housing-related bills in Congress, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge laid out her priorities during an address at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s spring virtual conference. Fudge hailed the passage of the American Rescue Plan

Plans initiated by the Biden administration in February to release billions of dollars in aid to Puerto Rico are now coming to fruition with a revised distribution of $8.2 billion, according to a Monday release from the Department of House

Fintech company Knox Financial announced Monday a $10 million Series A funding round, led by G20 Ventures. That’s $14.7 million of total funding to-date for Knox. Other investors included Greycroft, Pillar VC, 2LVC, and Gaingels.   Knox oversees a portfolio of

Servicers’ total number of loans in forbearance dropped for the seventh week in a row, down another 16 basis points last week to 4.5% of portfolio volume, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Following the massive decline the week prior,

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is making good on its threats to police mortgage servicers. In late January, the agency released a series of authority actions warning servicers that they need to do right by consumers who need access

Keller Williams Realty is revamping its leadership team yet again, announcing on Monday three senior hires to a recently created holding company. Carl Liebert, CEO of KWx – which formed in October as the holding company for Keller Williams, named

Last year, Laura Grannemann’s dedication to providing Americans with access to safe and affordable housing earned her a spot as one of HousingWire’s 2020 Women of Influence. Today, her passion is still apparent in the work that she’s doing to

Passport Title Services LLC will use Qualia as its new title production software, after officials announced the company invested in Qualia Core and Qualia Connect to aid clients. Headquarterd in Rockville, Maryland, Passport Title focuses on real estate settlement processing

A recent article published by CNBC showed that internet searches for the term “housing crash” had gone up 2,450% in the past month. A lot of folks are concerned about a housing market crash. They may be wishing for it,

With intense demand for homes on the higher end of the pricing spectrum, new updates to the QM rule that went into effect on March 1 and growing investor interest in jumbo mortgages – this is the perfect time for

There is a well-known analogy about a frog and a pot of water. If you drop a frog into a boiling pot of water, the frog will leap out. But if you drop a frog into a pot of cold

As HousingWire reported earlier this year, 2021 will be a year of heightened M&A activity — and not just for mortgage lenders and originators. As the refinance wave gives way to a purchase market, consolidation is already upon us – even

Blend Labs filed a confidential registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, signaling its intent to enter the public markets. The dropping of the S-1 closely follows the mortgage tech firm’s big venture capital raise in January,

Housing starts jumped in March, recovering from a bleak February that included wild winter storms in the South, according to a recent report from the Census Bureau. Single-family housing starts rose 15.3% over the month to a pace of 1.24

There’s no denying shopping for a home is time-consuming. You have to pay attention to everything – the neighborhood, floorplan, proximity to work, school district and cost. Even if you plan to live in the home for years, you want

In 2020, housing was an economic bright spot for a nation shuttered inside. Globally speaking, things look much different roughly a year later –  jobs are returning by the millions, a series of viable vaccines are being deployed across America,

Another 2 million borrowers could save an average of nearly $300 a month on a refinance thanks to last week’s 10-basis-point drop in mortgage rates. Recent data from Black Knight found the number of high-quality refi candidates moved back up

Consumers have been closely following President Joe Biden’s proposed first-time homebuyer tax credit, but the latest legislative effort to assist homebuyers differs in several significant ways. The newest draft of a down-payment assistance bill would provide $25,000 to first-time homebuyers,

Data analytics giant Black Knight and digital mortgage vendor platform Stavvy are the latest companies to officially receive the Remote Online Notarization (RON) compliance certification through the Mortgage Industry Standard Maintenance Organization (MISMO). Their initiation marks the ninth and 10th companies to

HousingWire’s fourth-annual Engage Marketing event will feature experts focused on the specifics of mortgage and real estate in a purchase market. While appetite for refinance loans will plunge in the second half of the year, a huge demographic wave of