Underwriting

Future unveils Alpha, an in-house AI mortgage system

A small fish in the pond of fintech-focused mortgage companies is trying to race to the front in the artificial intelligence arms race. And it’s not using a typical ChatGPT-style program either. Future Technologies CEO Blake Bianchi announced on Thursday that the company is launching a full-stack, proprietary AI system that promises to automate the […]

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FHA poised to outpace private mortgage insurers

The Federal Housing Association is likely to continue to take market share away from the private mortgage insurers for the foreseeable future, a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods report said. Insurance-in-force for all forms of mortgage insurance grew by 1.3% between the first and second quarters and by 5.5% year-over-year, the report from Bose George and

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Private MI market share gaps widen in Q2

Private mortgage insurers wrote just 2% more new business on a year-over-year basis in the second quarter, but market share shifts widened the spread between the six underwriters. The industry-wide market share gap was 1.7 percentage points for both the second quarter 2024 and first quarter of 2025, according to data from Keefe, Bruyette &

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Title insurers see margins rise, sales still weak

The disappointing spring home purchase season influenced the second quarter results of the publicly traded title insurance underwriters. Certain metrics were strong, with pretax title margins at three of the companies’ showing significant gains versus the second quarter. Stewart was up 630 basis points, First American reported a 530 basis point rise and Fidelity National

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HousingWire AI Summit to address tech’s promise and pitfalls

As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms housing, mortgage lending and real estate sales, industry leaders will gather Tuesday in Dallas for HousingWire’s AI Summit to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by the emerging technology. Summit speakers include Eric Forney, director of expansion at Keller Williams, and LaTasha Waddy, chief legal officer at NFM Lending, who

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Blend ‘turns corner’ and reduces GAAP losses in 2Q25

A takeaway from Blend Labs’ latest earnings is that, although it’s growing consumer banking broadly, the mortgage operations are the biggest investment theme in the short term, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said. “The company’s expansion into consumer banking adds a new growth vector that should be synergistic with Blend’s mortgage client roster and positions the

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Breaking the mold: new mortgage products emerge

In an interview with National Mortgage News, former Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago executive Steve Thomas complained about the current lack of product development in the mortgage business. That is likely because of a reluctance among lenders to create those unique programs outside of the agency and government spectrums especially since Monday morning quarterbacks

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Looser underwriting boosts serious default risk in 1Q25

Some loosening in mortgage underwriting contributed to the 8-basis-point quarter-to-quarter increase in the Milliman Mortgage Default Index. This measurement is an estimate of the lifetime serious delinquency rate, which Milliman defines as loans for which the borrower is 180 or more days late on their payments. It looks at loans acquired by the government-sponsored enterprises

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Credit score competition reduces mortgage market risk

The opinions published in National Mortgage News (“Credit Scores Are Not the Issue” by Christopher Whalen; “Pulte’s hands credit bureaus an unfair edge” by Chi Chi Wu), are incorrect and misleading. Contrary to the views expressed in those pieces, competition and modernization in the mortgage credit scoring system are significantly enhanced by VantageScore being allowed to compete by the FHFA.

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