Originations

Home Depot cuts forecast on weak demand for big-ticket items

Home Depot Inc. cut its full-year earnings guidance, warning that some unsteady consumers are hitting the pause button on big-ticket home purchases. The world’s largest home-improvement retailer said it expects adjusted earnings per share to decline 5% from a year ago, lower than its previous forecast. The company said its profit and comparable sales came […]

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Freddie Mac adds mortgage quality control automation tool

Fraud and misrepresentation remain persistent challenges in the mortgage industry and Freddie Mac is responding by bringing Quality Control Advisor Plus to the market, a tool which automates this compliance function. The tool is currently in a phased onboarding process with plans to make it available to all lenders by year-end, including the participants in

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New-home sales pace hits 2025 high despite dip in apps

New-home mortgage applications fell again in October, but the seasonally adjusted annual sales pace climbed to its highest level this year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. New-home purchases fell 2.6% year over year and 1% month over month in October, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Builder Application Survey. The MBA also estimated that

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Fitch flags cooling housing market through 2027

The U.S. residential housing economy growth will have slowed by 1.1% this year, from 2% in 2024, a result of cost pressures derived from higher tariffs on builder supplies like lumber, labor issues and weaker consumer and homebuilder sentiment about the sector, Fitch Ratings said. Over the next two years, it expects restrained growth rates

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Figure posts huge HELOC volume in strong earnings debut

Figure Technology Solutions posted a strong quarter in its first public earnings report, including $2.4 billion in home equity line of credit lending.  The fintech, which went public in September, recorded $89.8 million in net income for the third quarter, exceeding a Standard & Poor’s consensus estimate of $35 million. That also surpassed its $27.4

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Mortgage fraud risk rises on growth of investor properties

Mortgage application fraud risk increased on an annual basis during the third quarter as one in every 118 applications had indicators of potential misstatements, according to Cotality. When compared with the third quarter of 2024, fraud risk increased by 8.2% but this dropped by 2.7% from the previous quarter, the National Mortgage Application Fraud Risk

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Hidden home costs hit $16K, outpacing incomes

Home prices are squeezing potential buyers out of the market, and the true cost of homeownership is rising even higher. The hidden costs of homeownership now total nearly $16,000, climbing faster than incomes, a new analysis from Zillow and Thumbtack found. That’s an additional $1,325 a month on top of the mortgage payment. According to

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50-year mortgage plan piles on interest, analysis finds

The Trump administration floated the idea of a 50-year mortgage this weekend with the intention of improving affordability, but some data analyses indicate it could do the opposite. The interest paid for a 50-year mortgage on a $500,000 loan with a 6.10% annual percentage rate, roughly the current average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, would

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Homebuyer activity climbs despite minor rate uptick

Mortgage rates rose by 2 basis points this week, but did not impact home purchase activity during the period, Freddie Mac said. “Rates for the 30-year and the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage essentially remained flat this week, but we did see purchase activity increase, which is encouraging,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. Right now,

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Waterstone Mortgage on its structure and profitability

Waterstone Mortgage is an independent mortgage banker which happens to be a fully owned asset of a bank, explained Jeff McGuiness, its president and CEO. It outperformed the plan submitted to its holding company, Waterstone Financial, and was profitable for all of 2024 and so far in 2025, looking primarily at its origination business and

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