A new study found that using real estate agent-referred lenders not only increases borrowing costs for homebuyers but also shifts the burden of those costs disproportionately to the most vulnerable households.

Purchase mortgages and refinances in the highest loan-to-value ratio category accounted for a greater share of mortgages delivered to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the first quarter of 2026. (Includes two data tables.)

Researchers at the FRB of Richmond demonstrate how banks that gain local market share by acquiring an existing bank are likely to decrease FHA lending even while increasing conventional lending.

GSE refi business jumped and shifted toward borrowers with higher credit scores during the fourth quarter. With purchase mortgages, lenders also put a greater emphasis on LTV ratios below 81%.

Deliveries of high-risk purchase loans to the GSEs saw minor increases in the third quarter. But lenders expanded the credit for such loans in the refi sector. (Includes two data tables.)

One of the most common loan defects remains “incorrect income calculation — rental income/loss.”

The volume of adjustable-rate mortgages flowing into agency mortgage-backed securities jumped in the second quarter of 2025 and has remained elevated. Large nonbank lenders are driving the increase. (Includes data table.)

The perceived morality of mortgage forbearance increases when the borrower pays for the option to forbear, regardless of the political affiliation or personal characteristics of the borrower, according to researchers.

Declining equity and surging escrow payments may be a precursor to market stress in some parts of the country, analysts say.

FHA and VA purchase-mortgage volume increased by nearly 30% in the second quarter of 2025 compared with the previous quarter. GSE mortgages with private MI and agency purchase mortgages without primary MI lagged behind. (Includes two data tables.)