housing wire

This story has been updated with reaction from industry trade groups. The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Tuesday it is postponing the date it will begin implementing its adverse market refinance fee to Dec. 1. The FHFA directed Fannie Mae

From retail to restaurants, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken out tens of thousands of businesses nationwide. But minority-owned companies have fared much worse than their white counterparts, largely due to limited access to capital. The number of active business owners

The Census Bureau‘s new home sales report released Tuesday hailed another defeat to the housing bears’ doom and gloom predictions for 2020 after COVID-19 hit our economy. There may have never been another time in the history of America when the bears

Mortgage lending this year likely will total $3.4 trillion, about $1 trillion higher than 2019, as low rates boost refinancings, Fannie Mae said in a forecast. That would be the highest level of originations since 2003’s $3.8 trillion, according to

HousingWire spoke with Altisource Vice President of Product Ben Hall about the increased adoption of remote online notarization (RON) and how Altisource supports lenders looking to move to full eClosings. HousingWire: The COVID-19 pandemic has fueled the conversation around wider

Note: This is part four of a five-part series. Over the following weeks, Todd Duncan, sales entrepreneur and New York Times best-selling author, will showcase principles for mortgage and real estate professionals to embrace for success. Find more advice in

Almost 80% of economists say there’s at least a one-in-four chance of a double-dip recession, following a record 32.9% plunge in GDP in the second quarter, according to a survey released on Monday from the National Association for Business Economics.

The U.S. forbearance rate declined for the second consecutive week, falling to the lowest level since mid-April, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The share of mortgages with agreements to suspend payments fell to 7.2% from 7.21%, MBA said in

In a letter addressed to congressional leaders, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Treasury and the National Economic Council, a coalition of 31 housing organizations and industry trade associations urged the administration to immediately restart negotiating

e-Closing platform Pavaso announced on Monday it has been awarded the Remote Online Notarization Compliance Certification through the Mortgage Industry Standard Maintenance Organization – making it the fourth company to receive the specialized certification. Originally introduced in April, the MISMO

A Denver-based real estate agent has been fired after removing Black Lives Matter signs from front yards, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. It all started when a resident in a Denver neighborhood was walking his dog and noticed the

James Kleimann is joining HousingWire as Mortgage Editor to help the company sharpen coverage in housing finance, while also expanding into other housing verticals like real estate, title/escrow and appraisal. Working alongside HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler, Kleimann will

Operations have become increasingly important in today’s environment, and some companies have even offered sign-on bonuses for these roles as the need for them heightens. Many of the 2020 HW Insiders are from these operations roles, and their talent was

If the Great Recession never happened, how would potential homebuyers be looking at today’s housing market?  After all, the giant cohort of potential homebuyers now in their late 20s and early 30s was also the generation fresh out of college

Five months after restarting a bond-buying program last used in the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve has purchased about $892 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities, according to a Fed blog post on Thursday. The asset-buying has helped to drive mortgage

According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has been communicating with mortgage industry groups about delaying the implementation of a fee which would add a 0.5% surcharge to refinance mortgages sold to

Although many in the real estate industry say that San Franciscans are relocating to places more inland, some Century 21 agents in the San Francisco and Bay Area beg to differ. Suburban ZIP codes might be more popular these days,

According to the U.S Census Bureau’s latest Household Pulse Survey, close to 21% of both Black and Hispanic homeowners missed or deferred the previous month’s mortgage payment compared to 10% of white homeowners. However, Jung Hyun Choi, research associate at

The number of seriously delinquent mortgages, meaning payments overdue by 90 days or more, soared to a 10-year high during July in a tally that counts forbearances. There were 2.25 million home loans that were seriously delinquent last month as

Today, existing home sales blew out estimates, coming in at 5,860,000. With new home sales, pending home sales, housing starts, housing permits, and purchase applications already in v-shape recovery mode, this last metric completes the v-shaped recovery across the board

ATTOM Data Solutions’ RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listings and search portal, added industry veteran Rick Sharga back into its ranks earlier this month in a move that foreshadows what the company sees for its future. Sharga will oversee RealtyTrac’s marketing and

Home Point Financial has named Perry Hilzendeger as its president of servicing. A 30-year veteran in the consumer finance and mortgage industry, Hilzendeger will be assisting in the company’s growth, responsible for leading the mortgage servicing team and delivering customer

Residential sale-leaseback company EasyKnock has announced a new contributor to its Series B funding round. Viola FinTech has added $5 million to this round of funding, bringing the Series B total to $25 million. EasyKnock’s CEO Jarred Kessler told HousingWire

Existing-home sales jumped 25% in July from June, beating the prior record gain of 21% set a month earlier, as low mortgage rates fueled demand for real estate. Sales of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops rose to a seasonally