The Lede

CNBC, Jan. 19, 2018--Diana OlickThis year's spring housing market could be more competitive than ever, with the supply of homes for sale at record lows and rising mortgage rates threatening to make the situation even worse.

24/7 Wall Street, Jan. 19, 2018--Paul AusickThe national mortgage application fraud risk index rose from 135 in the third quarter of 2017 to 138 in the fourth quarter, according to researchers at CoreLogic.

HousingWire, Jan. 19, 2018--Ben LaneOcwen Financial is getting closer to putting its mortgage servicing issues with more than half the country's state regulators in the past.

National Mortgage News, Jan. 19, 2018--Brian Collins (subscription)The House has voted to exempt community banks, small credit unions and nonbank mortgage lenders from new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting requirements that went to effect Jan. 1.

HousingWire, Jan. 19, 2018--Caroline BasileBlockchain expert Debbie Hoffman, an attorney and co-founder of Symmetry Blockchain Advisors, spoke to NEXT conference attendees about blockchain technology's emergence in the mortgage and finance industry, where it has not become widely recognized...yet.

Bloomberg, Jan. 19, 2018--Jesse HamiltonFederal Reserve Vice Chairman Randal Quarles, the central bank's supervision chief, shared a laundry list of ways to make regulation less burdensome for Wall Street--including streamlining capital rules, overhauling post-crisis limits on trading and major changes to how the agency stress-tests banks.

CNBC, Jan. 19, 2018--Chloe AielloThe Conference Board said its leading economic indicator index met expectations in November, forecasting continued economic growth into 2018.

UExpress, Jan. 19, 2018--Lew SichelmanThe great minds of the mortgage market continue to work overtime, coming up with fresh ideas in an effort to reach more would-be homebuyers.

Mortgage Daily, Jan. 19, 2018Despite annual declines already reported by several of the nation's biggest mortgage originators, Caliber Home Loans Inc. experienced an increase. Servicing has also expanded.

Mortgage Daily, Jan. 19, 2018Residential loan originations were lower last year at SunTrust Banks Inc., while mortgage delinquency turned sharply higher. The servicing portfolio, however, expanded.

National Mortgage News, Jan. 19, 2018--Sinnock, Brian Collins (subscription)HUD does "not expect the impact on the housing market to be significant, as long as the shutdown is brief," according to a section of its website addressing the potential impacts of a shutdown.

National Mortgage News, Jan. 19, 2018--Kate Berry (subscription)Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said Friday that he has no plans to "blow up" the agency he leads and defended his request for "zero" funding from the Federal Reserve.

National Real Estate Investor, Jan. 19, 2018--J. Benjamin McGrewIncredibly, the current economic upcycle is now pivoting into its eighth year. And though there have been a few negatives in the past year, the overall outlook, especially for commercial real estate points to 2018 as a net positive.