Contracts, Invoices & Legal

Mortgage bonds are on track to deliver their strongest returns in two decades, with the Bloomberg US Mortgage Backed Securities Index having gained 8.35% in 2025 through Friday. View the full article

The contract rate on a 30-year mortgage dropped 8 basis points to 6.32% in the week ended Nov. 28, which included the Thanksgiving holiday, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday. View the full article

Private-sector payrolls decreased by 32,000, according to ADP Research data released Wednesday. Payrolls have now fallen four times in the last six months. View the full article

But just three of the 150 most populous ZIP codes have a mortgage debt-to-income ratio below the conforming threshold of 28%, Movingplace found. View the full article

A significant portion of the loans in the pool by balance, 44.5%, are designated at non-QM, according to DBRS, adding that about 50% of the loans in the pool were made to investors for business purposes. View the full article

Though changes to bank capital rules previewed by Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman in February being viewed as welcome, experts say other more significant hurdles — not all of them regulatory — are keeping banks on the sidelines of mortgage servicing and lending. View the full article

The top employers in home lending value business partners with a large market share and reach but they also need to differentiate themselves. View the full article

The bank exited the $1.95-trillion asset cap last year, but it had remained subject to the rest of the eight-year-old order. View the full article

The increase in borrowing costs coincides with a sharp rise in the 10-year US Treasury yield, which is correlated with mortgage rates, as war with Iran disrupted oil flows and sparked concerns about inflation. View the full article

Agency MBS investors have had limited information about primary loans coexisting with home equity products, and may want to get more now, according to Experian. View the full article

The number of homes with default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions last month was down from January but up 20% from a year ago. View the full article

A coalition of Democratic attorneys general, led by California and Illinois, have sued the Department of Housing and Urban Development over a guidance that they argue will scale back enforcement to strict federal standards and threaten state funding to enforce fair housing laws. View the full article

RATE 2026-J1 has a seasoned probability of default of 6.4% and 1.3% on the 'AAA' and 'B' rating stress levels, respectively. View the full article

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's portfolios were collectively $10 billion larger than in January, spurred in part by their mortgage-backed securities directive. View the full article

The US has a shortage of at least 10 million single-family homes, according to a new report from White House economists — a higher figure than some previous estimates from the government and the private sector. View the full article

The Chicago-based homeowners received a $41,000 check to pay down a portion of their existing mortgage, freeing them from the lock-in effect, DREAM product provider Takara said. View the full article

The pace of contract signings surged at its fastest in three years in a break from the more stagnant conditions of past home buying seasons, Realtor.com said. View the full article

Equifax will hold costs for scores from FICO rival Vantagescore through 2027 and offer other incentives meant to drive adoption of the alternative metric. View the full article

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged skepticism around the central banks large-scale asset purchases during the pandemic, noting the Fed likely "should have stopped" sooner, but fell short of admitting that the purchase of MBS' contributed to housing disparities. View the full article

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's credit risk-transfers and some older private-label mortgage-backed securities have exposures to the Washington DC area. View the full article

The megalender is accusing a nearby brokerage of skirting labor laws and avoiding significant overhead costs in misclassifying hundreds of employees. View the full article

Transunion will offer the credit scoring model for $4 in 2026, following previous moves made by VantageScore partners Experian and Equifax. View the full article

Of the 15 states most affected by natural disasters, California and Florida had the highest non-renewal rates in 2024, a Weiss Ratings study found. View the full article

Yields were higher by as much as three basis points, led by tenors more sensitive to changes in Fed policy. View the full article

Origination has picked up but has limits, retention rates are improving and stakeholders are seeking a recapture standard, experts at an industry meeting said. View the full article