Category: News and Trends

Loan application defects, fraud and misrepresentation increased by more than 20 percent in 2017, and that figure could rise in 2018 as mortgage interest rates rise, said First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency yesterday published a final rule that establishes new housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2018 through 2020.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and nearly a dozen industry trade groups called on the House to pass a pending bill that would provide consumers with greater choice in mortgage and settlement services.

The Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., projects homeowner spending on improvements and repairs will approach $340 billion in 2018, an increase of 7.5 percent from estimated 2017 spending.

Despite a triple whammy of summer hurricanes, along with California wildfires that drove up mortgage delinquencies toward year-end, the overall rate of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures fell in 2017, said Black Knight, Jacksonville, Fla.

A survey from LendEDU, Hoboken, N.J., found little more than half of consumers who take out home equity loans use those funds for home improvement projects.

A bill introduced this week in the Senate would restore captive insurance companies’ membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank system, a provision strongly supported by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

ACES Risk Management, Pompano Beach, Fla., released its Mortgage QC Trends Report for second quarter 2017, noting the critical defect rate increased for the third consecutive quarter.

AMELIA ISLAND, FLA.–John Ryan, President and CEO of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, said in the decade since the financial crisis, the non-bank (independent) mortgage bank has emerged as a major player in the real estate finance industry.

AMELIA ISLAND, FLA.–John Ryan, President and CEO of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, said in the decade since the financial crisis, the non-bank (independent) mortgage bank has emerged as a major player in the real estate finance industry.