housing wire

The pace of borrowers seeking delayed mortgage payments is slowing, according to data released Monday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The number of loans in forbearance increased 10 basis points for the week ending May 24, to 8.46% of outstanding

Requests for help from borrowers have slowed with the total number of mortgages in forbearance at about 4.8 million, Black Knight said on Thursday. Only 7,000 mortgages entered forbearance this week, Black Knight said. “Volumes of forbearance plans have flattened,

Real estate tech company Kleard has launched a new self-tour technology and app for homebuyers to tour homes on their own. The platform, Kleard Now, allows potential buyers to verify their identities, unlock participating homes and view them without an

In a recent guest contribution to HousingWire, Romi Mahajan suggested that the  National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index is “inefficient, unscientific” and not predictive of future sales – In other words, useless or even “damaging” to the economy. 

Just two months after joining the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as chief operating officer and first deputy comptroller, Brian Brooks has now ascended to the top job at the banking regulator. On Friday, Brooks officially became the

Redfin, which restarted its home-buying business earlier this month after pausing in March, is now fully back in expansion mode. The online real estate brokerage announced Friday that it is expanding its mortgage lending operations into three new states. Redfin launched

Fannie Mae issued a lender letter on Wednesday with additional requirements for borrowers who are self-employed.  “Income from a business that has been negatively impacted by changing conditions is not necessarily ineligible for use in qualifying the borrower,” the letter

This is the second installment of three-piece blog series from former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray. The series challenges the industry on how it should think about foreclosures. Go here for the first piece. Markets are shaped by

The transition from 2019 into 2020 proved to be more difficult for mortgage lenders than in past years. In the switch of a year and the blink of an eye, the world changed dramatically. The first quarter of 2020 ushered

Throughout metropolitan areas nationwide, the tight supply of for-sale homes – already constrained pre-coronavirus and intensified in recent months – is continuing. Although the increase in purchase mortgage applications signal a rebound of home-buyer interest and record-low mortgage rates could

In today’s lending environment, interacting with prospective and current borrowers requires more than a phone call or email. Now it’s about tapping into new media channels like social media and text to reach consumers where they’re most active online. That’s

SmartRent, a smart home automation platform for property managers and renters, already featured some of the biggest names in multifamily real estate among its backers, but the company got a big boost last year when Amazon invested in the company.

HousingWire spoke with Solidifi President Loren Cooke about what lenders can do to thrive in a disrupted and fast-growing market. HousingWire: While COVID-19 has dampened the spring purchase market, refinances are set to surge as a result of historically low

Another 2.1 million Americans filed jobless claims last week, bringing the tally of jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic to 40 million, about one out of every four workers. At the same time, there was a glimmer of hope: Continuing

A few months after I joined HousingWire in 2013, Ben Lane signed on as a mortgage reporter. The big news during that period was compliance with Dodd-Frank, including the Qualified Mortgage rule. A lot has changed in the industry and

HSBC Bank USA, the U.S. arm of HSBC Group, launched a digital mortgage platform last year with the help of Roostify to help its customers obtain a new mortgage, but it looks like the bank isn’t done advancing its digital

While much of the world is shut down due to the coronavirus, companies across all industries are turning to online technology to keep employees and business moving. The front runner for digital team correspondence is Zoom, with over 13 million

HousingWire spoke with Ross Diedrich, co-founder and CEO of Covered Insurance, about emerging trends in insurtech, how Covered has supported servicers during the COVID-19 period and what the transition out of this environment might look like. HousingWire: What are some

Pending home sales in April plummeted a record 21.8% as COVID-19 kept buyers at home. However, April will likely mark the bottom of the slump induced by the pandemic, the National Association of Realtors said in a Thursday report. The

Artificial intelligence continues to progress past the ‘buzzword’ phase as more and more tech companies turn to cognitive simulation for digital solutions. Online lenders are responding to the growing demand for a greater remote landscape, as more appraisals, closings and

The average U.S. rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.15% this week, the lowest ever recorded in a Freddie Mac data series that goes back almost five decades. The rate fell from 3.24% last week, setting a new

This year’s 2020 Class of Rising Stars celebrates 50 young innovators moving the housing industry forward. Coming from all sectors of housing – mortgage, real estate, fintech, servicing and more, these up-and-coming leaders are blazing their own trail. The norm

After the Great Recession, the number of big-city residents boomed. Flush with jobs and thirsting for modern high-rises, young adults and families moved into dense metro areas with amenities at their doorsteps and strips of restaurants blocks away. But those

As travel has been significantly minimized and less people are renting out Airbnb‘s, it leaves vacation rental owners in a bind, with some paying multiple mortgages. While Airbnb has mended some of its policies to accommodate the extenuating circumstances, are