The Lede

World Property Journal, Aug. 22, 2017According to the Mortgage Bankers Association Builder Applications Survey for July, U.S. mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 5.1 percent compared to a year ago.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Aug. 22, 2017--Lisa BrownThe Minneapolis-based bank already added more than 150 jobs at its mortgage offices in Earth City and downtown St. Louis over the past year, said Tom Wind, president of U.S. Bank Home Mortgage.

Wall Street Journal, Aug. 22, 2017--Justin Lahart (subscription)Building homes is a good business-just not nearly as good a business as investors think it is.

National Mortgage News, Aug. 22, 2017--Michael Bartlett (subscription)There have been many rules and regulations issued in the wake of the financial crisis last decade, but few have been as unpopular and controversial as TRID.

National Mortgage News, Aug. 22, 2017--Lalita Clozel (subscription)Bank earnings jumped 10.7% in the second quarter from a year earlier, to $48.3 billion, boosted by rising net interest income as banks kept expenses in check, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.

HousingWire, Aug. 22, 2017--Ben LaneIn a deal that will combine two Arkansas-based community banks, Bear State Financial, the parent company of Bear State Bank, and Arvest Bank announced Tuesday that Arvest will be acquiring Bear State in an all-cash deal valued at $391 million.

National Real Estate Investor, Aug. 22, 2017--Greg WillettMeasuring health in terms of annual rent growth for new apartment resident leases, different markets range all the way from spectacular--a 7 percent rent escalation in downtown Seattle--to dismal.

Mortgage Daily, Aug. 22, 2017After peaking in the second quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association predicted loan originations will decline each of the following three quarters.

Mortgage Daily, Aug. 22, 2017--Sam GarciaA number of offerings from various mortgage service providers have recently been integrated into multiple product-and-pricing engines. One lender is making its proprietary PPE available directly to consumers.

Reverse Mortgage Daily, Aug. 22, 2017--Alex SpankoThe Lone Star State's Department of Savings & Mortgage Lending found no enforcement actions against reverse mortgage originators in the state over the past 10 years.

CNBC, Aug. 22, 2017--Diana OlickAs recently as Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said if you're worried about the mortgage interest deduction, "you can breathe easy."

HousingWire, Aug. 22, 2017--Ben LaneAccording to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, Edward Bohm, Edward Sypher, Jr., and Matthew Voss, who are senior executives at Vanguard Funding, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud for allegedly misusing the warehouse funds to pay for personal expenses and compensation.

Bloomberg, Aug. 23, 2017--Yalman OnaranThe deregulation winds blowing through Washington could add $27 billion of gross profit at the six largest U.S. banks, lifting their annual pretax income by about 20 percent.

Bloomberg, Aug. 23, 2017--Christopher FlavelleBrock Long, who was confirmed in June as the administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook for homes that keep flooding, and the threshold for triggering federal public assistance after a disaster might be too low. He also expressed support for an Obama administration idea to make local governments pay more when a hurricane or flood hits.