housing wire

Not everyone can afford to invest in rental property in the area they live in. In some regions, housing prices are so high that it may be difficult to add to your real estate portfolio. Whether cash buyers outbid you

Rates are rising. Refinances are falling. Inventory is contracting. Application fallouts are worsening. It’s getting harder out there. Worsening market conditions are only going to accelerate an already hyper-competitive mortgage lending industry that is still learning to adapt to post-pandemic

Home Point Capital, the parent company of wholesale lender Homepoint, continues to turn profits based on the selling of operations and assets as management adjusts the company to the shrinking mortgage market. The wholesaler reported on Thursday morning it notched a

An ebullient market for mortgage-servicing rights (MSRs) helped to buoy the profitability of at least three major nonbank lenders that are publicly traded and abated losses for a fourth, based on their recently announced first-quarter financial results. Those lenders are UWM Holdings Corp., the

Soaring home prices continue to serve existing homeowners, with nearly 45% of all property owners now considered equity rich, a year-over-year jump that boosted 13% more homeowners into the prime position. A homeowner is considered equity rich when they have

The U.S. Senate confirmed Julia Gordon on Wednesday evening to serve as commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The position is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Gordon, who most recently stepped down from her role

Purchase mortgage rates this week averaged 5.30%, up three basis points from a week ago, causing homeowners’ monthly payments to increase by about one-third year-over-year, according to the latest Freddie Mac PMMS. Borrowers continue displaying resilience, but higher rates expected in coming months

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales for March came in as a miss of estimate at 5.77 million. However, the real story of 2022 is that the savagely unhealthy housing market continues as inventory is still

Fannie Mae has lowered its mortgage origination forecasts for 2022 and 2023 due to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) aggressive inflation-fighting monetary policy and corresponding volatility in the mortgage market. Fannie’s Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group dropped its projected single-family

A Department of Veterans Affairs lending program for Native American veterans has been severely underutilized, a government watchdog found. According to a report the Government Accountability Office published this week, the VA’s Native American Direct Loan program only resulted in

eVaults are an integral part of any end-to-end digital mortgage transformation. They enable lenders to originate and securely hold eNotes and accelerate capital market transactions. eVaults also support an enhanced customer experience for borrowers and streamline interactions with other participants

In the first article of this series, I discussed the argument for turning Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into public utilities, which would result in more Americans having fair access to mortgage services. However, regulating government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) as public

Wholesale lender Homepoint is becoming a broker of sorts…for mortgage brokers. The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company has launched a referral program aimed at connecting mortgage brokers with regional homebuilders as well as homebuyers. Homepoint’s “New Build program” connects homebuilders with

Bonnie Williamson never intended to be a real estate agent. As a French major and Russian and political science minor at the University of Michigan, Williamson had initially entertained the idea of going into politics. Instead, she was recruited out

On Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau released their report for March, showing a solid number of housing permits and starts — but these were boosted by multifamily construction. In addition, this data lags behind the current reality of a housing

With rates at the highest level in a decade, mortgage applications for the week ending April 15 fell 5%, according to the latest survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The drop was largely driven by an 8% decline in refinancing

At an investor conference last fall, Redwood Trust Inc. CEO Christopher Abate outlined the company’s strategy to expand its reach in existing markets while also seeking out strategic investments in new markets. Those new investments include venture capital plays, particularly in

Despite advances in technology, the mortgage industry still lacks efficiency Mortgage executives are aware of a problem: despite billions of dollars in technology investments, the mortgage industry still largely looks like it did two decades ago. After all, it still

With interest rates on the rise, refis trending downwards and a significant decrease in purchase volume brought on by low inventory, mortgage lenders are looking for smart solutions to combat margin compressions in 2022 and beyond. HousingWire recently spoke with

Phishing remains the go-to attack for hackers targeting the mortgage and real estate industries. Loan officers and mortgage executives alike continue to click on links in seemingly routine emails, ultimately giving bad actors complete access to lenders’ systems and mortgage

Each year, HousingWire recognizes the outstanding women in housing who are making notable contributions to both their businesses and to the industry at-large. Last year’s list of nominations were so robust that we expanded the number of honorees from 50

Title insurance protects borrowers from financial loss if the lender discovers a defect in the title to the property (for example, a previous mortgage) and demands a borrower to pay back the loan. Title insurance also guards against loss in

In this HW+ Slack Q&A, HousingWire Lead Analyst Logan Mohtashami gives the inside scoop on where rates are headed, his insights on the latest economic reports and more. As a member of HW+, you can us join for regular 30-minute Slack Q&As, where

Fast-rising interest rates, up 1.5 percentage points over the past three months, have thrown a wrench into the mortgage origination and private-label securitization markets. Refinancing is plummeting, purchase activity is softening, and rate volatility is making secondary market deals harder to price