Economists at the MBA don’t think interest rates on mortgages will decline much this year. Economists at Fannie Mae project a sizeable drop.

Amerant Bank launched national mortgage operations in 2021. Now, the bank is reducing its footprint, focusing on lending in Florida where its bank branches are located.

Waterstone Financial relents on defense against poaching allegations; Mr. Cooper takes loss on sale of Flagstar’s third-party originations unit; legal expenses rise at Mr. Cooper.

Demand from borrowers increases when mortgage rates fall below 6.5%, according to Owen Lee, CEO of Success Mortgage Partners. Due to policies from the Trump administration, it’s unclear whether rates will decline to that level in the near term.

An increase in housing supply has helped increase options for buyers, limiting home price appreciation.

Fannie’s AI-powered Ask Poli allows quality control personnel to identify frequently researched topics, both within and outside their organization, as a way to forecast current or future loan defects.

The founder of Rocket Companies could see $571.9 million in tax benefits triggered by the company’s planned acquisition of Mr. Cooper; legislation in the House would set standards for remote online notarization; new company offering NMLS-approved education.

Better is touting investments in artificial intelligence to help slash costs tied to originating refis. The lender is also building a distributed retail operation to increase production of purchase mortgages.

MBA increases odds of a recession within next 12 months; new tools to verify employment, income; downpayment size increases in 2024; new proposals from MISMO; lender raises funds; Cardinal offers processing for brokers; new hire at Nationwide Mortgage Bankers.

After achieving profitability in the third quarter, loanDepot returned to the red in the fourth quarter. And the CEO brought on to turn the nonbank’s fortunes around three years ago is departing, with company founder Anthony Hsieh taking a larger role.