Housing Wire

JUNE 9, 2025

housing market is flashing warning signs reminiscent of 2008: rising household debt burdens, persistent inflation and home prices that are outpacing incomes. Unlike the pre-2008 era, stricter lending standards and robust regulations have kept mortgage delinquency rates low, significantly lowering the odds of a catastrophic collapse.

Marketing 450

Marketing Debt-to-income ratio Fixed-rate mortgage Loans 450

Housing Wire

JANUARY 8, 2025

Heading into the 2025 housing market, we havent had this many homeowners with mortgage rates over 6% since 2016. of outstanding mortgages, around 8.7 million borrowers, carry a mortgage with an interest rate over 6%. had these cheap mortgages. People with expensive mortgages are more likely to sell their house.

Mortgages 475

Mortgages Finance Equity Loans 475

Housing Wire

MAY 5, 2025

San Francisco-based home equity solutions provider Unison announced Monday that it’s lowering the annual percentage rate (APR) on its Equity Sharing Home Loan, an alternative funding vehicle aimed at helping U.S. homeowners tap into record levels of equity. Rates for high-risk borrowers sometimes exceed 12%.

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Equity Loans Mortgages Finance 314

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 20, 2024

House of Representatives proposes to relieve Federal Housing Administration (FHA) borrowers of mortgage insurance premiums (MIPs) once they reach a certain level of home equity , aligning FHA policies with those of conventional loans. Mortgage insurance exists as protection from foreclosure on low equity loans.

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FHA loan Mortgages Equity Loans 403

Housing Wire

APRIL 15, 2025

More than $700 billion in home equity is effectively trapped and inaccessible to homeowners due to a variety of economic circumstances, including employment shocks and shifts in the market that negatively impact their credit scores. This exacerbates existing barriers to credit and access to home equity.

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Equity Lending Development Loans 358

Housing Wire

JULY 7, 2025

A rise in negative equity and exposure to student debt are creating “pockets of vulnerability” for U.S. That’s according to ICE Mortgage Technology ‘s July 2025 Mortgage Monitor report released on Monday. homeowners. in May, although it is up 16 bps year over year. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

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Equity Mortgages FHA loan Loans 263

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

In today’s challenging market, higher interest rates and home values have created a unique opportunity for lenders to grow their home equity lending business. Despite the recent interest rate reduction , the demand for home equity products remains strong. What about the property condition?

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Equity Lending Loans Renovation 370

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

Describing the modern-day mortgage market as challenging would be an understatement, to say the least. Mortgage interest rates have steadily ramped up throughout 2024. The average rate throughout 2024 for 30-year fixed mortgages was 6.72% higher than it was during the 2008 market crash.

Loans 318

Loans Mortgages Equity Construction 318

Housing Wire

JUNE 23, 2025

With mortgage rates still hovering near multi-decade highs, homeowners are opting to hold onto their ultra-low first mortgages. Instead of refinancing, they’re tapping into their equity through home equity loans and HELOC s to finance renovations, cover tuition, or consolidate high-interest debt.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 16, 2024

Homeowners have generally done well over the last few years in accumulating home equity wealth. Since the onset of the pandemic, average equity per borrower increased by about $117,000 nationally, totaling almost $312,000 per mortgaged borrower. Aggregated across borrowers with a mortgage, home equity adds up to almost $17.5

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Housing Wire

JUNE 24, 2025

home equity hit an all-time high of $34.5 Along with the rise in equity, total mortgage debt has actually fallen by a marginal amount — from $13.4 Along with the rise in equity, total mortgage debt has actually fallen by a marginal amount — from $13.4 trillion in 2024. That’s more than triple the $11.4

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Housing Wire

MAY 20, 2025

John Toohig stood at a podium as the moderator of a panel about home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) and asked an illustrative question of the audience of mortgage professionals. How many of you have a mortgage first lien, 30-year with a 4% coupon or lower? trillion in available equity among U.S. homeowners and $11.5

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Housing Wire

APRIL 9, 2025

High mortgage rates have made moving or buying a new house less appealing, said Ebonee Johnikin, a real estate agent based in Laurel, Miss. Many baby boomers have already paid off their homes or have a low fixed mortgage that they dont want to give up. Representatives from Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp.

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Equity Mortgages Industrial Loans 387

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 4, 2024

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced last week that the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage ( HECM ) limit for 2025 will be $1,209,750. It’s the ninth straight year that the limit will increase based on home-price appreciation levels, which feeds into a single, national limit for all HECM loans.

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Mortgages Equity Lending Loans 388

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 31, 2024

Jonathon Haddad, chairman and CEO of the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME), is one of the owners of Next Door. 1, NerdWallet is paying $1 million in cash for the outstanding equity interests of Next Door. The analysis includes first-lien mortgage originations. Before that, he spent six years at Quicken Loans.

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Lending Mortgages Loan Officer Principal 480

Housing Wire

JANUARY 2, 2025

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements saw a healthy increase in October 2024. to 2,392 loans for the month, according to data compiled by Reverse Market Insight (RMI). Case number assignments mark a crucial first step in the process of originating a reverse mortgage. Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp.

Mortgages 402

Mortgages Equity Principal Loans 402

Housing Wire

MARCH 14, 2025

The mortgage professional of the future goes beyond the transaction. Our mortgage industry is experiencing a fundamental shift. Traditional loan officers who focus solely on transactions are being replaced by mortgage professionals who act as financial strategists, long-term advisors, and educators.

Mortgages 356

Mortgages Loan Officer Marketing Loans 356

Housing Wire

APRIL 22, 2025

As it aims to appeal to potential clients who may be taking a closer look at tapping into home equity , reverse mortgage lender Finance of America (FOA) has debuted a new marketing campaign in concert with its new creative agency to illustrate the lifestyle impacts of its products. Those are decisions yet to be made.

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Equity Marketing Finance Mortgages 344

Housing Wire

JANUARY 24, 2025

Business-purpose residential mortgage lender Dunmor announced Thursday that it has received a minority equity investment from Newfi Lending , a nonagency mortgage lender owned by funds managed by Apollo Global Management. According to Dunmor, the investment is an extension of an original partnership initiated in June 2024.

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Equity Lending Residential Branding 365

Housing Wire

JANUARY 17, 2025

Seattle-based WaFd Bank , which has offered home loans for more than 100 years, announced Thursday in an earnings report that it will exit the single-family mortgage lending business. That is bad news for banks like WaFd Bank, because it has made the business of originating mortgages for our portfolio unsustainable.

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Lending Banks Mortgages Commercial 388

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

million in Q2 2024 related to mark-to-market impacts on its lock pipeline. The company also reported a funded loan volume of $1.035 billion for Q3 2024, up 42% year over year and up 8% quarter over quarter, with 71% of this volume attributed to purchase loans. The company’s earnings release noted a nonrecurring gain of $5.5

Mortgages 369

Mortgages Loan Officer Loans Technology 369

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 29, 2024

Employment data for October is set to be released Friday, and it will go a long way in determining the path for mortgage rates, which have surged upward in the past month. At HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center on Tuesday, the average rate for 30-year conforming loans was 6.72%. This equated to homes being 9.2%

Mortgages 429

Mortgages Equity Loans Marketing 429

Housing Wire

APRIL 21, 2025

As one of only a few states considering more stringent regulation of the home equity investment (HEI)/home equity contract product category, lawmakers in the state of Washington have requested an academic study to assess the impacts on state residents who may use an HEI to tap into their home equity.

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Equity Principal Loans Mortgages 287

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 29, 2024

Economists pointed to lower mortgage rates as the reason for slower growth. Despite the Federal Reserve’s half-point interest rate cut in September, rates for 30-year conforming loans have climbed back up to 6.7%, according to HousingWire ’s Mortgage Rates Center. gain year over year, less than the 4.8% gain from July.

Mortgages 475

Mortgages MLS Equity Loans 475

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Finance of America (FOA), the leading reverse mortgage lender, presented a robust outlook last week in its third-quarter 2024 earnings and is aiming to hit the ground running with business in 2025. The product was first introduced in 2018, marking the industry’s first-ever second-lien reverse mortgage option.

Mortgages 370

Mortgages Equity Lending Design 370

Housing Wire

JANUARY 3, 2025

Reverse mortgage professionals made more inroads into the forward mortgage industry in 2024. This happened through dedicated conversations, partnerships between reverse and forward mortgage companies, and expanded activities in reverse that stemmed from acquisitions and expansions of existing divisions.

Mortgages 403

Mortgages Lending Loan Officer Loans 403

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

Home equity solutions provider Unison launched a new product on Tuesday that combines the features of traditional mortgage financing and emerging home equity investment (HEI) options. The San Francisco -based Unison calls its new offering the Equity Sharing Home Loan. home equity by the end of this year.

Equity 441

Equity Loans Debt-to-income ratio Renovation 441

Housing Wire

APRIL 16, 2025

Equity Smart Home Loans made a splash Wednesday by announcing it is severing ties with United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) and partnering with Rocket Pro. We’re in a tough market. A lot of our loan officers are struggling. Of those loans, just over 66% were brokered. “It just comes down to pricing.

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Equity Loans Loan Officer Mortgages 229

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 3, 2025

There is constant movement in the mortgage industry with the desire for growth and expansion. It is easy to become blinded by the end goal of increasing loan volume and quality origination talent. Thus, it has never been more important to focus on due diligence in analyzing a mortgage industry acquisition target.

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Due diligence Purchase and sale agreement Industrial Mortgages 403

Housing Wire

MAY 2, 2025

The reverse mortgage industrys premier trade association held its first event of 2025 this past week. What does get noticed is the number of loans we do the size of the industry. And if reverse mortgages are underutilized, reverse for purchase is so underutilized, its almost criminal. But a lot of it goes unnoticed.

Mortgages 448

Mortgages Industrial Land Equity 448

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 8, 2024

Sean Shallis, a “Recovering Realtor” and top-producing loan officer , is offering strategies to help realtors break through this stagnation by leveraging micro-market shifts to create urgency and inspire action. Leveraging micro-market shifts Realtors have an opportunity to use local market changes to drive urgency for their clients.

Marketing 370

Marketing Loan Officer Equity Loans 370

Housing Wire

MAY 13, 2025

According to the most recent credit data from the New York Fed , foreclosure data for the housing market is still below 2019 levels. Credit data in general doesnt look great when accounting for credit card debt, auto loans, and student loan debt all have had an increase in their percentage on 90-day lates.

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Bankruptcy Equity Loans Lending 472

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 10, 2024

Ongoing supply and affordability challenges in the housing market have frustrated many homeowners who have looked to trade up or relocate for various reasons. The market for renovation projects is a lucrative one for homebuilders and contractors. And there are now 32 million borrowers who have at least $100,000 in tappable equity.

Renovation 460

Renovation Equity Lending Banks 460

Housing Wire

MARCH 5, 2025

The newest weekly mortgage applications survey data, released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) included the lowest mortgage rates in months, which created a stir in the number of applications. On-the-ground observations Loan officers say they’re seeing an increase in government loan demand.

Loan Officer 285

Loan Officer Loans VA loan FHA loan 285

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

Guild Mortgage CEO Terry Schmidt said during a third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday that Guild’s reverse mortgage division continues to contribute to companywide strategies, and that additional interest in reverse has been observed. We service most of our own loans on the traditional side as well as the reverse side.

Mortgages 370

Mortgages Equity Lending Branding 370

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 15, 2024

Rocket Companies ’ third-quarter earnings call offered a glimpse into a key element of its 2025 strategy for Rocket Mortgage — driving profits through ridiculously high recapture rates and an expanding servicing portfolio. “Our scalable tech platform is what empowers us to navigate dynamic markets with agility.

Mortgages 370

Mortgages Equity Loans Principal 370

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 9, 2024

After a year filled with rate swings, unpredictable markets and a bit of drama (thank you, inflation), the real estate world is ready for a fresh start. Whether youre looking to buy your first home, upgrade or simply gain clarity on the current market , this guide is your insiders playbook to tackle 2025 with confidence.

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