Originations

A spike in government-sponsored applications helped lead indexes to their largest gains in several weeks.

Changed borrower psychology and the severe housing inventory shortage dropped lending activity across the board, according to Black Knight.

Refinancings more than doubled the year-ago amount and made up for the slowed purchase activity, according to Attom Data Solutions.

Average loan size also continues to increase, as demand remains high and costs in homebuilding materials rise this year.

Economic recovery should soar into the summer as vaccination rates climb and restrictions loosen up, but low inventory is likely to limit mortgage activity into the next year, according to Fannie Mae.

With little transitional disruption, the bigger players on the non-agency side could gain a hefty share of non-owner-occupied mortgage volume as a result of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s caps on such purchases, a KBRA analysis finds.

It’s getting easier to close bigger loans for higher-priced properties, but credit is expanding slower for first-time buyers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has moved ahead with an earlier proposal to postpone the full adoption of the qualified-mortgage ability-to-repay rule, citing a need to maximize borrowers' credit access.

The government sponsored enterprise’s latest forecast calls for a nearly $4 trillion year for 2021.

But the percentage of weekly applications in that category was closer to 60%, the Mortgage Bankers Association found.