The mortgage industry has welcomed the National Defense Authorization Act recently passed by the House for including provisions for minimum federal standards on the use of remote online notarization in mortgage closings.

A sharp drop in bank mortgage repurchases from the first to the second quarter was due mostly to one institution: USAA Federal Savings Bank. (Includes data chart.)

Incenter Appraisal Management launched a remote appraisal service, United Wholesale Mortgage is allowing brokers to bypass appraisal management companies and Fannie Mae is looking to reduce appraisal bias.

Fair housing advocates said HUD should continue to monitor mortgage lenders for potential discrimination stemming from the use of predictive technologies.

Shares of Enact Holdings began trading on the Nasdaq this week, surging more than 7% on Day 1.

Layoffs in the mortgage industry? No, not yet. Actually, there were modest staff reductions in 2Q21 but most of the displaced landed quickly.

For refinances completed during the second quarter, 28% of borrowers remained with the servicer of their previous mortgage, the largest share since the pandemic started, according to Black Knight.

Nearly half of the executives surveyed by Fannie Mae expect profit margins to contract in the fourth quarter.

Bank call-report data show a huge drop in mortgage banking income from the first to the second quarter, but several top banks reported big gains. (Includes data chart.)

When an industry thrives, its chief trade organization usually thrives as well. But not in FY20, when COVID-19 and accounting entries from the year before nicked MBA’s bottom line.