Purchase-mortgage originations continued to grow during the third quarter of 2013, with a significant share of the loans coming from loan correspondents, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. Lenders generated an estimated $218.0 billion in purchase mortgages during the third quarter, the highest three-month volume since the third quarter of 2007. That was up 17.2 percent from the second quarter and it brought year-to-date production to $583.0 billion, up 30.4 percent from the same period in 2012. Refinance production continued...[Includes four data charts]

Officials close to the matter said the MI policy briefing was cancelled due to Senate approval of a new permanent director to the agency, Mel Watt, a former North Carolina Congressman.

“We are expecting to see people trying to inflate their income or hiding and downplaying their monthly obligations,” said Interthinx's Ann Fulmer.

Senior lawmakers in the Senate said they remain “bullish” on moving legislation to the floor sooner rather than later in 2014.

Mortgage debt outstanding is on the rise again after after five long years of winter. Should mortgage servicers pop the champagne?

Investors hunger for yield. And what better place to get it than in the new breed of subprime mortgages.

Industry trade groups feared a 10 basis point increase in the g-fee from a budget deal.

The changes are part of an extensive overhaul aimed at boosting the rural housing market, increasing the availability of rural home loans and spurring the construction of new homes in rural areas.

The appraisal requirements required by the Dodd-Frank Act apply to higher-priced mortgages that don’t meet qualified mortgage requirements.

“The CFPB’s treatment of balloon loans was a step in the right direction, and demonstrated recognition of the unique nature of community banking and a different approach to regulating them,” the CSBS says in a new white paper.