The Lede

National Mortgage News, Jan. 5, 2017--Passy, Jacob Mortgage credit availability grew for the fourth consecutive month in December, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported.

Washington Post, Jan. 5, 2017--Orton, Kathy According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average tumbled to 4.2 percent with an average 0.5 point.

National Mortgage News, Jan. 5, 2017--Passy, Jacob Change looms on the horizon for the mortgage industry--both in the products it offers and in the borrowers it serves.

Forbes, Jan. 5 2017--Barzilay, Omri  Commercial real estate is behind the times. But a growing community of tech startups is beginning to address common issues that plague the industry.

Mortgage Daily, Jan. 5, 2017 The transaction was announced Thursday by Mortgage Industry Advisory Corp., which placed the loans through its whole-loan desk.

HousingWire, Jan. 5, 2017--Lane, Ben As part of asettlement with the Department of Justice, which is not yet finalized, Deutsche Bank will be required to provide $4.1 billion in consumer relief.

Bloomberg, Jan. 5, 2017--Smialek, Jeanna Three interest-rate increases this year is a "reasonable" assessment of what the U.S. central bank should do at a time when unemployment has declined and inflation is slowly moving up, said Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams.

Wall Street Journal, Jan. 5, 2017--Leubsdorf, Ben Growth in economic activity across the sprawling U.S. service sector was steady and solid in December, a sign of momentum for the broader economy headed into the new year.

Mortgage Daily, Jan. 5, 2017--Garcia, Sam A nice improvement was recorded this past week for interest rates on residential loans, and the forecast is for a further decline.

National Mortgage Professional, Jan. 5, 2017--Hall, Phil A new survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association of the nation's top commercial and multifamily mortgage origination firms is offering an optimistic forecast for lending in 2017.

National Mortgage News, Jan. 5, 2017--McKendry, Ian The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Jan. 12 on the nomination of Ben Carson as Secretary of HUD.

HousingWire, Jan. 5, 2017--Lane, Ben The fight against neighborhood blight took a giant step forward this week, as Ohio just became the first state to ban the use of plywood on vacant and abandoned properties.