News

Baker Donelson, a law firm with practices in a wide range of fields, announced the addition of Amanda Berry to its Orlando office.

In St. Louis, Mortgage Returns announced the launch of its Spring Purchase Program as a way to help lenders boost loan volumes and referrals during the upcoming busy season.

According to responses in the New York Fed's most recent Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE), consumers last month indicated a median home price change expectation of 4.0 percent, reversing an increase to 4.6 percent in January. Price change expectations hovered around 4.5 percent for much of last year's second half, coming down only when national reports indicated a slowdown.

An uptick in interest rates brought early March mortgage applications down, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported. MBA's Market Composite Index, a weekly released measure of mortgage loan application volume, fell 2.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending March 7. On an unadjusted basis, the index dropped 1 percent.

While seemingly innocuous, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) push to change reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act may have unintended consequences for both servicers and legal teams to assess discriminatory lending practices. The CFPB is inviting input on both the content and the method of reporting. Now is the time to speak up on these matters.

DocuTech announced Monday that COO Scott K. Stucky has expanded his role within the company and will now serve as Chief Strategy Officer.

In a letter issued to brokers Monday, Fifth Third Mortgage president Bob Lewis revealed the bank is exiting the wholesale business to focus third-party origination on correspondent lending. “While this was an extremely difficult decision to make, we intend to build on our leadership position in the correspondent market and remain committed to purchasing loans from smaller financial institutions and independent mortgage companies,” Lewis said in the letter.

According to the National Association of Realtors' Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study for 2014, Millennials—aka “Generation Y” or “Generation Next”—comprised 31 percent of recent purchases, leading all other age groups. Following that were Generation X (defined as those born between 1965 and 1979), which made up 30 percent.

The leaders of the Senate Banking Committee announced Tuesday plans to move forward on a new proposal to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in favor of a new government backstop for private financiers. According to committee chairman Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) and ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the newly unveiled reform proposal is the result of months of exploratory hearings and negotiations.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Mortgage Credit Availability Index, a measure of borrower eligibility and underwriting criteria from more than 85 lenders, moved up half a percentage point to 113.5 last month, building on an increase of two points recorded in January. Once again, the expansion in credit offerings in February was the result of offsetting factors, said MBA chief economist Mike Fratantoni.