housing wire

Housing starts increased 6.3% to a rate of 1.64 million in June, as construction companies broke ground on a greater number of both single-family and multifamily buildings last month. But crucial supply issues are preventing future builds from getting off

Mortgage applications for new home purchases in June decreased 3% from May and 23.8% year over year, suggesting a slowdown in the housing market, according to a recent report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. New single-family home sales were reported

Blend Labs‘ life as a public company is off to a promising start. Late last week, Blend sold 20 million shares of Class A stock at $18 apiece, raising $360 million. Shares closed trading at $20.90, giving Blend a valuation

As Chief Strategy Officer at Mortgage Capital Trading, Leslie Winick has harnessed her industry experience to help lead new technology innovations and industry-leading support that allowed MCT to continue to meet client needs despite the volatility of the past year.

For the 20th straight week, servicers’ forbearance portfolio volume dropped — this time a staggering 26 basis points, to 3.50% in the period ending July 11, per a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association.  According to MBA’s estimate, 1.75 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.

Now that we have clarity around the structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and as the president considers installing a new permanent director, an opportunity arises for the next evolution in housing finance policy. But success for either

As some borrowers exit forbearance and consider selling their homes, they could use some guidance to ensure they’re making the right decision. Using Xome’s Xpert Seller Program, servicers can help borrowers determine the best marketing strategy list and sell their

Seventy million dollars in seed funding is a colossal investment for an unproven tech startup, even one that promises to fully disrupt a relatively low-margin, traditional industry like mortgage lending. But this is no ordinary mortgage startup. Venture capital investors

Homebuilder confidence for newly built single-family homes dropped one point to 80 in July, per the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released today. It’s the lowest level since August 2020. High building material prices

Margaret Redman has been named director of national commercial services and senior regional underwriting counsel for North American Title Insurance Co. as the firm’s parent company begins the process of rebranding in preparation for an independent public offering. Redman, who

Real estate platform OJO Labs is expanding into Canada, the company announced this week. Canadian customers can now work directly with the OJO concierge team to connect with local agents and mortgage professionals from Royal Bank of Canada, said Natalka

The second big mortgage joint venture announcement this week is a meeting of the Glenns. Glenn Sanford’s eXp World Holdings announced Thursday a mortgage joint venture with Glenn Stearns’s Kind Lending, called Success Lending. The declaration comes 48 hours after

Hampered by labor shortages, rising material costs and government regulation, homebuilders are looking to Congress for ways to decrease the estimated “under-building gap” of 5.5 million homes and help with housing affordability. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is joining the National

The low mortgage rates that propelled the housing market throughout the COVID-19 pandemic will rise later in the year, but they’ll do so gradually, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its quarterly outlook. That will give more homeowners a final opportunity

The journey to homeownership can be rewarding, but also challenging. For some aspiring homeowners in underserved communities, the process may be even harder to navigate. Residents in these communities may be less likely to possess generational wealth to put toward

Online mortgage marketplace Morty announced the close of a $25 million Series B financing round, pushing the total company valuation to $150 million. Morty’s marketplace has processed more than $500 million in loans in the past 12 months, and saw

Mortgage credit availability dipped 8.5% in June to 118.8 — indicating that lending standards are tightening, per the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index. It’s the lowest MCAI level — which uses 100 as a benchmark — since September

After several consecutive weeks of drops, mortgage applications jumped 16% for the week ending July 9, 2021, according to the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The prior week‘s report showed a 1.8% drop in applications to the lowest level

For the first time in a year, the number of buyers who locked in mortgage rates to purchase a second home fell in June. Per a recent Redfin study, second home mortgages saw a year-over-year decrease of 11.1%. Home prices

A shareholder sued Rocket Mortgage, the Detroit-based mortgage behemoth, for allegedly making misleading disclosures to conceal adverse market conditions. The class action-seeking lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District Of Michigan’s Southern Division, alleges that Rocket was aware of

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell two basis points from the week prior to 2.88%, according to mortgage rates data released Thursday by Freddie Mac‘s PMMS. According to Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, the decline provides modest relief to

This is the first time I am writing about mortgage backed securities (MBS) because I hardly ever consider this aspect of the housing market in my work. But since now even Federal Reserve members are discussing the pros and cons

Lisa Dunn was on her way to the American Automobile Association headquarters in Mission Viejo, California when her phone started blowing up. It was July 1, and the U.S. Department of Justice had just fired off a press release saying

Over the course of the last year, the mortgage industry has seen increases in origination volumes and decreases in released servicing bids. This has caused servicing portfolios to grow to represent the largest single asset on many lenders’ balance sheets,