Ginnie Mae President Joseph Gormley, who is also serving as acting commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), said the counterparties participating in Ginnie Mae’s program have evolved significantly since the Great Financial Crisis, with greater exposure to independent mortgage banks (IMBs) that have invested heavily in governance and risk management. Still, he cautioned that […]
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) would like to review its anti-flipping rule and reforms to automated valuation models (AVMs), according to Matt Jones, deputy assistant secretary for the FHA’s Office of Single-Family Housing. “We think our AVM, our valuation technology, has improved significantly since that rule was put in place a couple decades ago,” Jones […]
The forecast for the 2027 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits has risen sharply to 3.9%, driven by persistent inflation in housing, utilities and energy, according to new data released by The Senior Citizens League. The projection — up from a steady 2.8% estimate just one month ago — would raise the average monthly […]
Rate has added Scottsdale, Arizona-based loan originator Kelsey Marquardt to the company, the Chicago-based national mortgage lender announced Friday, as competition for high-producing loan officers continues across the mortgage industry. Marquardt, who has generated more than $85 million in loan production, joins Rate after a three-month stint at Universal Lending Corp. She previously built her […]
Brody Gapp LLP launched a mortgage AI governance audit practice and set a third-quarter 2026 publication date for “The Mortgage Bankers AI Governance Guide,” the firm announced Friday in conjunction with the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s Secondary & Capital Markets Conference in New York. The national mortgage banking compliance, litigation and AI governance law firm […]
Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) president and CEO Bob Broeksmit said regulators should prioritize rolling back rules that raise costs as mortgage rates are likely to stay “stubbornly high” for the foreseeable future. “A lot of burdensome regulations need to change,” Broeksmit said Monday at the MBA Secondary and Capital Markets Conference in New York. “Especially […]
Las Vegas-based Panorama Mortgage Group has unified its multiple brands under a single banner — SimplyPMG — and appointed Fernando Ospina as chief production officer to oversee all channels. The strategic rebrand aims to simplify operations, expand market reach and eliminate brand confusion among consumers, secondary market investors and warehouse lenders. Historically, the company operated […]
Reverse mortgage professionals are navigating a “more labored current reality” marked by high interest rates, rising upfront costs and longer loan processing times, even as optimism grows around product innovation and technology adoption. That’s according to Steve Irwin, president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA), who sat down with HousingWire‘s Reverse Mortgage Daily […]
Loan officers are shifting their playbooks to keep deals alive as mortgage rates climb north of 6.6%. Originators are encouraging borrowers to ask for more seller credits, recalibrate their home search criteria and rush to close deals as quickly as possible. Rates for 30-year fixed mortgages reached 6.62% on Friday afternoon, up 5 basis points […]
Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) said UWM Holdings Corp., the publicly traded parent company of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), is positioned for continued growth despite elevated interest rates. It points to expanded broker market share, in-house technology investments and a push to bring mortgage servicing operations fully in-house. In a research note published […]
AD Mortgage has launched a $407 million non-QM securitization, its fourth deal of 2026, as the company continues to diversify collateral beyond its home base in Florida and deepen its national origination footprint, the company announced on Thursday. AD Mortgage Trust 2026-NQM4 is backed by 979 loans that are primarily fixed rate. Florida properties account […]
A Two Harbors Investment Corp. stockholder has sued the company and its directors in federal court over allegedly misleading proxy disclosures, seeking a restraining order to delay the May 19 special meeting regarding its proposed merger with CrossCountry Intermediate Holdco LLC. George Assad filed the lawsuit and related emergency motions Wednesday in the U.S. District […]
Cryptocurrency is no longer a peripheral line item in borrower financial profiles. Approximately 30% of American adults now own it. Global ownership has surpassed an estimated 500 million people. The total housing market has crossed the $1 trillion mark multiple times in recent years. These numbers mean that lenders, originators and the regulators overseeing them […]
The Senate’s confirmation of Kevin Warsh as chairman of the Federal Reserve is already reshaping conversations across the housing industry — particularly among real estate agents watching mortgage rates, affordability and transaction volume. Warsh is set to officially succeed Jerome Powell after a contentious confirmation process held against a backdrop of elevated inflation, geopolitical instability […]
Since 2012, every year we have heard that it’s about to be 2008 all over again for the housing market, as people try to get attention by implying home prices are going to crash like they did starting in 2007 and ending in 2011. However, the housing credit markets have changed in such a fashion […]
Artificial intelligence is reshaping nearly every corner of the mortgage business at United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), where chief technology officer Jason Bressler said the company is betting on AI agents to automate underwriting support and servicing operations at a massive scale. Speaking with HousingWire at the UWM Live! event in Detroit, Bressler said the company’s […]
In the decade since its founding, fintech company Flyhomes has witnessed a variety of events. From a global pandemic and record low interest rates to a historic increase in interest rates and the drying up of previously free-flowing venture capital funds, the Seattle-based company has navigated it all. “I think these last three years or […]
On Thursday, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) announced a limited-time pricing incentive of 86 basis points per loan and upgrades to Mia, the company’s AI-powered loan officer assistant. The announcements were made by UWM CEO Mat Ishbia at UWM LIVE!, the company’s annual event for mortgage brokers. The incentive, dubbed Refi ’86, pays homage to the […]
Snapdocs and BNY are partnering to launch an automated, end-to-end digital mortgage collateral and eCustody solution, the companies announced Thursday. The technology aims to eliminate manual handoffs and create faster execution in the secondary market. The initiative targets digitization of one of the mortgage industry’s most stubborn bottlenecks: collateral delivery from closing through warehousing and […]
The conventional wisdom says tighter credit slows lending volume. The agencies proved that wrong last year. Combined multifamily originations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac topped $150 billion, which was up roughly 25% from 2024, but property values are still sitting 28% below their mid-2022 peak. The agencies grew because borrowers trusted the process enough […]
Linkhome Holdings Inc. has agreed to acquire Constant Investments Inc., dba Mortgage One Group, a move that will speed the national rollout of its AI-powered Cash Offer and Buy Before Sell programs. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Announced on Wednesday, the deal would give Nasdaq-listed Linkhome 100% of Mortgage One Group’s equity interests, […]
The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh on Wednesday to succeed Jerome Powell as chairman of the Federal Reserve, sparking hopes within the mortgage industry for less volatility as Warsh takes the helm of the central bank. Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as the 17th Fed chair, was previously confirmed as a board member on […]
At a time when some reverse mortgage lenders are struggling to bring new business through the door, Movement Mortgage is an example of a company that’s posting modest growth through organic lead generation and purpose-driven leadership. Sales leaders from South Carolina-based Movement took the stage at last week’s Reverse Mastermind Summit in Tennessee to offer […]
GO Mortgage has launched a third-party origination (TPO) channel built on a new wholesale platform, the company announced Tuesday. Leading the effort is Rob Saunders, who was named executive vice president of TPO production. “We didn’t build this to compete with what’s out there,” GO Mortgage CEO Jay Promisco said in a statement. “We built […]
New York-based Rithm Capital Corp., the parent of multichannel mortgage lender Newrez, on Tuesday priced a $500 million offering of senior unsecured notes due in 2031, marking another step to strengthen its balance sheet following a string of recent acquisitions. Offered exclusively to qualified institutional buyers, the notes carry an 8.5% coupon and are expected […]
Two Harbors Investment Corp.’s board unanimously rejected a revised unsolicited acquisition proposal from UWM Holdings Corp, maintaining its recommendation that shareholders approve the company’s pending sale to CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC. In a letter on Wednesday, the New York-based, MSR-focused REIT called the UWM proposal “illusory, predatory and unactionable.” UWM is offering $12.50 per share, with no cap or […]
Mortgage applications increased 1.7% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending May 8. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 2% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 1% from the previous week and was 28% higher than the […]
Homeownership is one of the most powerful wealth-building tools this country offers, and my path into the mortgage lending industry is an unlikely story that I could not be prouder to tell. In 2006, I was a methamphetamine addict living in an abandoned house, likely due for demolition, in Akron, Ohio. I had burned practically […]
For generations, homeownership has been one of the primary ways Americans built wealth and passed it on to loved ones. Now, financial advisers and housing experts warn that many older homeowners may be counting too heavily on their homes as retirement safety nets as they discover their properties sell for less than expected, according to […]
Branch manager Austin Baker and his Houston-based team, Lasso Lending, have joined Supreme Lending, bringing more than $100 million in annual loan production to Supreme’s platform. The move deepens Supreme Lending’s presence in the Houston metropolitan area, one of the nation’s most active and competitive housing markets, according to the company’s announcement. Baker entered the […]
A consistent theme emerged from the first-quarter 2026 earnings season: higher mortgage rates and macroeconomic volatility are dampening second-quarter expectations. Several large lenders remained profitable during the quarter, benefiting from mortgage rates that were roughly 50 basis points lower than current levels while they continued to invest heavily in artificial intelligence and other technology. But […]
Economic conditions continue to keep the costs of a home loan higher, with the war in Iran, inflationary concerns and a slow but stabilizing job market serving as the key headwinds to a potential spring housing market surge. Mortgage rates moved higher for a second straight week, according to HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center. Rates for […]
National real estate analytics and data solutions company Clear Capital announced on Tuesday its acquisition of Restb.ai, an artificial intelligence-powered computer vision company serving the real estate and valuation industries, as it looks to expand its property data and analytics capabilities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and a company spokesperson confirmed that the […]
MeridianLink, a provider of digital lending and data-driven decisioning solutions, announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its platform with new artificial intelligence capabilities and continued growth in its mortgage business. The company launched MeridianLink Intelligence, an embedded AI offering within its MeridianLink One platform. The system, nicknamed “Millie,” deploys role-based AI agents designed to […]
If you want to understand where the mortgage industry is headed, spend a few days listening to lenders at gatherings like ICE Experience, HousingWire’s The Gathering or Texas MBA’s annual convention when they are not presenting, not pitching and not on panels. Spend time in the hallways. At the booths. In the quiet conversations between […]
ATTOM reported that 43.3% of mortgaged U.S. residential properties were considered equity-rich in the first quarter of 2026. The figure dropped from 44.6% in the previous quarter — marking the lowest equity-rich rate since the fourth quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, 3.2% of mortgaged residential properties were classified as seriously underwater in the first quarter. Those […]
Mat Ishbia’s plan to expand the public float and trading liquidity of UWM Holdings Corporation has come to an end as the company pursues its acquisition of Two Harbors Investment Corp., a deal designed in part to address long-standing investor concerns about the company’s tightly held share base. The share sale program, implemented in 2025 […]
loanDepot has filed a $250 million shelf registration statement, giving the company flexibility to issue a range of securities over time to raise capital, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday. The announcement came days after the Irvine, California-based mortgage lender reported a net loss of $54.9 million in […]
Ellington Financial Inc. reported first-quarter net income attributable to common stockholders of $95.5 million, or 78 cents per share, as strong reverse mortgage origination volumes and securitization activity boosted results. The Old Greenwich, Connecticut-based mortgage REIT said adjusted distributable earnings totaled $66.5 million, or 55 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31. Book […]
UWM Holdings Corp. (UWM) raised its unsolicited offer to acquire Two Harbors Investment Corp. on Monday, proposing $12.50 per share in cash or 2.3328 shares of UWMC stock as it seeks to derail a pending merger with CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM). In an open letter to Two Harbors stockholders, UWM said it will submit a revised […]
For reverse mortgage lenders, the secondary market is a complex balancing act of liquidity, interest rates and government regulations. The industry continues to grapple with challenges stemming from the Ginnie Mae HECM Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS) program’s 98% buyout requirement, a rule some say contributed to the 2022 bankruptcy of Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF). With the highly […]
The administration has proposed cutting the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI) from $324 million to $119.5 million in fiscal 2027, a 63% reduction from the level Congress enacted for 2026. The justification centers on waste, fraud and abuse, along with a push to redirect capital toward rural communities. That framing misses the point. If […]
Benutech has launched two predictive analytics products aimed at helping real estate agents and mortgage loan officers identify potential home sellers and refinance candidates before they enter the market. The products, SellScore and RefiScore, are available through the company’s TitleToolbox platform. “SellScore and RefiScore give our clients the ability to stop guessing and start closing,” […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning mortgage services provider Mortgage Connect about its use of noncompete agreements, urging the company to review and potentially discontinue restrictive covenants that may violate federal antitrust law. Friday’s letter, signed by FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson and addressed to Mortgage Connect’s outside counsel, was a reaction to information […]
Blend Labs Inc. delivered a profitable first quarter and expanded its customer base while issuing a conservative outlook for the months ahead due to shifting macroeconomic conditions. The company reported non-GAAP operating income of $4.1 million for the quarter ending in March, a significant improvement from $0.7 million during the same period last year, according to […]