Freddie said the strong labor market and years of pent-up interest are increasing demand for purchase mortgages.

Tian Liu, chief economist at Genworth Mortgage Insurance, said homebuilders are starting to increase the supply of homes at somewhat lower price points, which could help increase purchases by first-time buyers.

A senior FHFA official said disputes over private mortgage-insurance pricing likely fall under the jurisdiction of state insurance regulators.

Homebuyers in Tampa, Kansas City (MO), Portland and New York saw the biggest mortgage rate savings by shopping around for home loans compared to buyers in other US cities, according to a new study by LendingTree. The rate spreads in the four cities are the largest for purchase-mortgage loans overall, while New Orleans, Salt Lake City and Indianapolis have the largest differences in refinance mortgage rates, the study found. Also, due to the large loan sizes, California borrowers ...

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Montgomery should “right size” the FHA.

PeerStreet was founded in 2014, reached a cumulative $500.0 million in originations this past September and recently surpassed $1.0 billion in originations.

Home prices increased by 1.7 percent in the first quarter of 2018, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index.

The correspondent channel accounted for 32.9 percent of total first-lien originations, up from a 32.4 percent share the previous quarter.

All three loan-production channels saw sharp declines in volume during the first quarter, but correspondent activity held up slightly better than the other platforms. [Includes four data charts.]

Applications for purchase mortgages and refinances both declined.