Bank acquisitions in the mortgage space have been few and far between the past few years. Still, officials at Western Alliance believe it makes perfect sense for the bank to acquire AmeriHome Mortgage.

EarnUp offers payment and saving-services to consumers and is using the access to borrowers’ bank accounts to provide insights to mortgage servicers.

Although lending volumes are still robust, managers are looking at cross-training employees to handle a shift from originations to servicing.

Research by Jornaya found the search for homes nearly doubling early in the new year.

In an attempt to outbid two private equity firms, CoStar Group raised its offer price for mortgage data vendor CoreLogic to $95.76 a share.

The company, which buys and sells homes directly, cautioned that it may not have sufficient cash flow from its businesses to pay down its substantial debt.

It’s not every day that a lender commits to sell $34 billion of MSRs. IMA is the investment banker on the package and speculation is rising on who the seller might be.

If mortgage originations are operating in a typical three-year cycle, profits will likely fall this year, according to industry analysts. The wild card: how lenders react to continued demand for refis.

For the first time, MISMO is charging a 75-cent-per-loan fee for mortgages registered electronically. The fee will help fund MISMO’s activities, with an emphasis on digital mortgages.

Home-sale prices increased by 18% year-over-year for the week ending Jan. 24, while pending sales grew by 28%, according to Redfin.