FoA will fund the purchase of Blackstone's stake in the reverse-mortgage lender with a convertible debt facility.

Insurance companies are adapting to take advantage of the closer relationships offered in the private credit market.

“[The combined operations of Rocket and Mr. Cooper] allows us to be opportunistic and stick to really high expected return thresholds, that, if we can meet them, we’ll be active and we’ll bid at those levels and if we can’t, we don’t have to,” said Brian Brown, chief financial officer and treasurer at Rocket.

The MBA projects that the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will decline from 6.8% in the second quarter of 2025 to 6.6% in the second quarter of 2026.

Expanded-credit MBS issuance with loans to self-employed borrowers increased by 45.3% during the second quarter.

“As we take the next steps to quickly and responsibly implement a VA partial claim program, we expect servicers to continue to offer Veterans a full array of loss mitigation options,” VA’s loan guaranty service said.

Much of the downturn was in pools with high concentrations of loans that accomplish GSE missions and other social goals.

“There is still plenty of uncertainty surrounding the economy and job market, which is weighing on prospective homebuyers’ decisions,” said Joel Kan, a vice president and deputy chief economist at the MBA.

Two Harbors booked a contingency liability and related expense of $199.9 million in the second quarter tied to litigation with the former manager of the REIT.

“We’ve been very proactive in seeing the housing market decelerate and trying to be on our front foot,” said Mike Fania, co-chief investment officer and head of residential credit at Annaly.