The Lede

The Mortgage Bankers Association is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make multiple improvements to its consumer complaint database so that the information presented to the public is more accurate.

The apartment business is depending on strong demographics and stronger demand to keep absorbing the hundreds of thousands of apartments still planned to open this year. By 2024, demographic and economic changes will bring what could be one of the largest expansions in the history of the U.S. housing market-15.9 million additional households, according to a recent report by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Credit unions are no longer the tiny cooperatives they were a generation ago. Now they are much larger - the military credit unions like Navy Federal and Pentagon Federal are multibillion-dollar institutions - and much easier to join. And not only do they offer mortgages, but they also are beginning to tap the capital markets for extra money to lend.

Freddie Mac's revised 2015 refinance forecast is now at 46 percent of all single-family mortgage originations. Cash-out refinances were also on the rise, growing from 27 percent of all refinances in the first quarter to 34 percent in the second quarter; last year at this time, the cash-out share was only 22 percent.

M&T Bank has agreed to pay $485,000 and change its lending policies to settle a lawsuit that accused the Buffalo, N.Y., company of racial discrimination in making mortgage loans.

While Fannie Mae's Book of Business dropped slightly at a compound annualized rate of 1.3 percent in July, the GSE's gross mortgage portfolio declined at a rate of 16 percent, marking the fourth month in a row ninth time in 12 months the portfolio declined at a double-digit annualized rate, according to Fannie Mae's July 2015 Monthly Volume Summary released Monday.

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased by 6.9% in July compared with July according to CoreLogic.

U.S. factory activity braked to a more than two-year low in August, but sturdy gains in automobile sales and construction spending suggested the economy remained on solid footing.

At issue are loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, a government agency that insures lenders against default when they extend mortgages to qualified buyers with credit scores of as low as 580 and down payments as low as 3.5%. David Stevens, president of the trade group Mortgage Bankers Association, said that the new certification leaves too much discretion for the Justice Department to pursue claims against lenders for minor mistakes.