For the past several years, the U.S. housing market has faced an unusual constraint: not a lack of buyers, but a lack of sellers willing — or able — to move. Millions of homeowners remain “rate-locked,” holding mortgages originated in 2020–2022 at interest rates between 2% and 4% (Federal Housing Finance Agency; Freddie Mac Primary […]
Jobs Friday came and went without much reaction in bond yields because the labor market isn’t breaking, nor is it getting stronger. Mortgage rates dropped into the 5s for a short time on Friday as a result of Trump’s earlier announcement directing the GSEs to buy $200 billion in mortgage backed securities. The 10-year yield […]
Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, stoked debate about the future of retirement savings by saying that in the coming years, traditional retirement planning could become “irrelevant” amid technological advances. “One side recommendation I have is: Don’t worry about squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years,” Musk said on […]
It finally happened today: We got mortgage rates under 6% for a short time. Can we get some traction for that level? Well, one aspect of the mortgage-rate story really improved today; we had a monster day in mortgage spreads, improving overnight to push rates down over 20 basis points without much help from the […]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac quietly increased their purchases of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in 2025, helping push mortgage spreads lower toward the year’s end. Most analysts, however, were not expecting further meaningful tightening in the near term — at least until this week. That changed Thursday after President Donald Trump posted on social media that […]
The ongoing litigation between the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) and Katie Sweeney is moving to a Michigan court, according to documents filed on Friday. In an order signed Thursday, the court granted the parties’ agreed-upon motion to change venues, shifting the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan […]
Despite several years of volatility in the housing market, the fix-and-flip sector — where investors rehabilitate, reposition, and upgrade residential properties — has shown resilience and is poised for meaningful growth in 2026. While only recently becoming recognized as a formal institutionally rated asset class, the underlying strategy is anything but new. For decades, local […]
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is directing representatives at the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to purchase $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS), a move he said is intended to bring mortgage rates down. “Because I chose not to sell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in my First Term, a truly great decision, and against […]
MeridianLink and Optimal Blue announced Wednesday that they’ve reached an agreement to integrate their technology platforms, with the joint solution expected to be available to customers in early 2026. Under the partnership, mortgage users of MeridianLink’s loan origination system will gain access to Optimal Blue’s real-time product, pricing and eligibility (PPE) engine. The integration is […]
Singapore-based investment firm Temasek has closed a $150 million investment in a fund managed by real estate lending platform Roc360, the companies announced Thursday. The capital will be allocated to an investment vehicle focused on residential transition loans used to finance home renovations. Temasek, which manages a $324 billion investment portfolio, first partnered with Roc360 […]
Laura Brandao announced on social media this week that she’s embarking on a new professional endeavor at MLB Residential Lending as its president of wholesale and correspondent lending. In a conversation with HousingWire, Brandao said that she’d been in a consultant’s role for MLB — which stands for Making Lives Better — since March 2025. […]
In an industry often tethered to the patchwork systems of the past, true institutional growth requires more than a software update. It requires a foundational shift. Today, Kind Lending, the national mortgage powerhouse founded by industry icon Glenn Stearns, announced a strategic partnership with CANDID to execute exactly that: a comprehensive modernization of its operational […]
A wave of recent proposals from think tanks across the ideological spectrum argue that the ultimate solution for keeping Social Security viable lies in fundamentally changing how the program works. According to federal actuaries, Social Security’s trust funds are projected to be depleted by 2032. If Congress takes no action, benefits would be cut across […]
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is moving to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, framing the proposal as a way to improve housing affordability. “I am immediately taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes, and I will be calling on Congress to codify it. People live […]
Finance of America (FOA) maintained its position as the top issuer of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage-backed Securities (HMBS) in 2025, underscoring significant changes in the reverse mortgage securitization market over the past decade. FOA issued $1.87 billion in HMBS last year, capturing roughly 30% of total market share, according to league tables compiled by New […]
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) announced Wednesday that in honor of its 40th year in business, it will offer a 40 basis-point (bps) pricing incentive to broker partners for the next six weeks. UWM mortgage broker partners can receive 40 bps on all new locked loans through Feb. 27. While all loan officers are eligible to […]
Blend Labs Inc. confirmed Tuesday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that Matt Thomson has joined the company as its head of revenue. Thomson brings more than 25 years of fintech sales leadership experience, including building and scaling go-to-market organizations. As head of revenue, he will lead Blend’s sales organization and revenue strategy, with […]
Newrez has invested in mortgage technology firm HomeVision and is partnering with the company to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered underwriting platform for the mortgage industry, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal marks the first time Newrez — which is owned by asset manager Rithm Capital — has made a direct investment in a technology […]
For the last few years, many homeowners have felt like they were holding a winning hand, a two to three percent mortgage rate that seemed too good to ever give up. And honestly, who could blame them? Those rates were historic. The average 30 year fixed mortgage rate fell below 3 percent in 2020 and […]
The mortgage industry recorded a modest increase in the number of producing loan officers in 2025 — the first annual rise since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to preliminary data from mortgage technology platform RETR. The number of LOs who originated at least one mortgage in 2025 reached 221,161, up slightly from 220,449 in 2024. “That’s […]
Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), took to the social media platform X on Monday to seemingly call out credit bureaus for their pricing. “I do not understand what the credit bureaus are doing with their pricing — they are inviting a lot of scrutiny that is only intensifying by […]
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has asked a federal judge in Michigan to strike proposed class-action claims in a lawsuit that accuses the lender of violating federal and state consumer protection laws. UWM argues that the case cannot legally proceed on a classwide basis. In a reply brief filed on Dec. 16, UWM told the U.S. […]
Mortgage rate movements remained calm in the opening days of the new year, and there’s little on the horizon to suggest that the pattern will change anytime soon. At HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center on Tuesday, rates for 30-year conforming loans averaged 6.37%, up 1 basis points from one week ago. Rates for 30-year jumbo loans […]
Finance of America (FoA) has appointed Angela Tribelli as chief marketing officer, tasking her with overseeing the company’s brand, communications and marketing strategy. Tribelli, most recently global head of consumer marketing and growth at Bloomberg Media, began the role on Jan. 2. A seasoned marketing executive, Tribelli will report to FoA President Kristen Sieffert and […]
MeridianLink Inc. announced on Tuesday that Raj Patel has joined the company as its chief technology officer. Patel, who brings decades of experience scaling enterprise SaaS and consumer technology platforms, will oversee the Irvine-based company’s technology strategy and product innovation, focusing on AI-driven solutions and marketplace integrations for banks and credit unions. “With Raj’s leadership, […]
Trust is built through relationships. It is not automatic, it is not assumed, and it is never guaranteed — it is earned. Working for a well-respected company with a long history of service does not automatically make someone a Trusted Mortgage Advisor. Trust is personal. It belongs to the relationship between the loan officer and […]
By the end of the decade, the U.S. will be markedly older. One in five Americans will be at least 65 by 2030, and by 2034, older adults will outnumber children for the first time, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This demographic reality is already transforming the economy — from the size of the […]
Mutual of Omaha Mortgage led originations for the federal reverse mortgage program in 2025, a year in which Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements faced a 43-day shutdown and overall volume remained relatively flat compared to 2024. Mutual of Omaha endorsed 447 HECMs in December, bringing its total for all of 2025 to 5,740 loans, […]
In the mortgage M&A arena, 2025 marked a year of transition from distressed sales to strategic moves — a period when large deals took place and servicing became crucial to long-term strategies. The broader mortgage sector accelerated its pace of M&A activity in 2025. HousingWire tracked 62 mergers and acquisitions, exits and entrances, investments and […]
NFM Lending‘s LaTasha Waddy announced that she’s stepping into the role of company president. As a result, current NFM President Bob Tyson is moving into the CEO’s role, a move that was confirmed by NFM managing director Greg Sher on LinkedIn. Sher told HousingWire that the changes were effective Jan. 1, and that CEO David […]
Sagent, a leading provider of mortgage servicing technology, announced on Monday the appointment of Chris Marshall as CEO. Marshall, who is Sagent‘s board chairman, will retain that role. He will also work closely with Sagent’s customers and prospects, including many of the country’s top mortgage servicers, to implement Sagent’s end-to-end Dara platform at scale. Current […]
The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) has voiced formal support for New Jersey Senate Bill 4970 — urging lawmakers to advance legislation that would clarify how reverse mortgages are treated under the state’s secondary mortgage law. In a letter sent to State Sen. Joseph Lagana, the association said the bill would exempt reverse mortgage […]
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued new guidance that clarifies how appraisers are added to, maintained on and removed from the FHA Appraiser Roster. Mortgagee Letter 2025-24 — effective immediately — updates FHA policy to make appraiser eligibility easier to track and more consistent with federal and state licensing records. Changes apply […]
Manually updating spreadsheets. Dealing with paper jams in the printer. Remember what office life was like in 2005? If you’re feeling nostalgic, you can find many of the same practices still in place in the investor’s reporting offices of loan servicers today. But why haven’t these offices evolved with changing technology? It’s partly cultural, but […]
A Massachusetts judge has barred home equity contract provider Hometap from arguing that state regulators previously approved or implicitly sanctioned the company’s business model — strengthening the attorney general’s consumer protection lawsuit against Hometap. In a Dec. 19 decision, Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Debra Squires-Lee ruled that such fairness-based arguments cannot be used to […]
Mortgage rate movement remains stuck in neutral as 2025 comes to an end, but the U.S. housing market has shown signs of life during a traditionally slow period. On Monday, Mortgage News Daily reported an average 30-year fixed rate of 6.19%, down 5 basis points from a week earlier. And on Tuesday, HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates […]
Once viewed as a niche option, private lending has rapidly entered the mainstream as more borrowers discover the speed, flexibility, and accessibility of private credit financing. But as the industry attracts new borrowers, it is also evolving with their needs, particularly in the balance between short-term and long-term loans. To understand where private lending is […]
The median first-time homebuyer in the U.S. in 40 years old, which is a record high. One of the main reasons is that Millennials typically delay ownership by about 7 years, and Gen Z only have a 26% homeownership rate by their late 20s, far behind previous generations.A growing financial strain These younger Americans are […]
The reverse mortgage market is expected to see growth in 2026 as lenders and originators adapt to evolving interest rate conditions and innovate to reach more borrowers. John Lunde, founder and president of Reverse Market Insight, said that 2025 marked a shift in focus for many originators, as they recognized that mortgage rates might not […]
If you’re self-employed, paid on commission, or run a business, you already know the frustration: you can have strong cash flow, great credit, and real assets—yet a traditional mortgage can still feel like a square peg in a round hole. That’s exactly why bank statement loans exist. They’re designed for borrowers whose real income is […]
For real estate investors sidelined by traditional income documentation requirements, debt-service-coverage ratio (DSCR) loans are becoming easier to access and are more widely available as lenders refine underwriting and gain confidence in the product’s performance. Like other seemingly “nontraditional” loans, lenders took some time to dip their toes into in the DSCR market. Marc Halpern, […]
Mortgage applications decreased 5.0% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Dec. 19, 2025. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 6% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 6% from the previous week and was 110% higher than […]
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recently announced “Operation Double Nickel,” a proposal that would lower the age for senior property tax benefits from 65 to 55 and expand homestead tax exemptions. According to Patrick’s website, the plan “would accelerate school property tax cuts, reduce school property taxes, and freeze appraised values for more than 3.3 […]
Mortgage rates started the year slightly above 7% but are heading into the holiday season near the 6.2% level. Looking ahead to 2026, lenders and industry experts expect some relief, though not a dramatic shift. On Monday, Mortgage News Daily reported that 30-year conventional fixed rates averaged 6.24%, down 2 basis points (bps) over the […]
Economic growth is expected to slow in 2026 and remain below trend for several years as higher interest rates and lingering inflation pressures weigh on the U.S. economy, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s December Economic and Mortgage Finance forecasts. MBA economists Mike Fratantoni, Joel Kan and Judie Ricks wrote that the forecasts show 2025 […]