Recent readings on home price appreciation suggest that annual appreciation in 2024 could be lower than expected.

Beginning Dec. 9, servicers must use Freddie’s Resolve default management tool to complete the following actions: charge-offs, foreclosure sale reporting, custom modifications, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure and third-party foreclosure sale settlements.

Refis accounted for 55.7% of mortgage applications last week.

The revamped rules allowed lenders to use a wider variety of standards to meet ATR and qualified-mortgage requirements while also introducing some uncertainty on whether specific loans comply with ATR standards.

Annual readings for home price appreciation are close to falling below the increase in conforming loan limits some lenders have offered for 2025.

Home equity investment activity is growing thanks to ongoing home price appreciation and strong demand from both homeowners and investors in the secondary market. Regulation of the products is currently limited to a handful of states.

Soaring home price appreciation in recent years has created plenty of tappable home equity. Firms offering equity-extraction products use various techniques to make homeowners aware of their offerings.

Lower interest rates bring refi opportunities; borrowers experience frustration at closing; improvements at Provident Funding Associates; Spanish translation efforts; tech firm acquires mortgage brokerage.

Freddie is adding loan mod functions to its Resolve system and retiring Workout Prospector. The GSE is also setting new fraud reporting requirements for lenders and servicers.

Some lenders are hiking their loan limits for GSE deliveries ahead of FHFA’s announcement on conforming loan limits for 2025.