Originations

The potential impacts of import tariffs cloud the outlook, though, and could lead mortgage rates to surge and fall throughout the coming year.

Meanwhile, home prices are set to grow 3 to 4% in 2025, a Fitch report predicts.

The consortium of businesses intends to work with state regulators to protect consumers as interest from secondary market investors also grows.

The latest refinance surge helped lift total application activity up for a second straight week, even as purchases fell, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage continues to slip away from the 7% mark, Freddie Mac said, but experts still expect them to stay higher for longer.

On an annual basis, home prices grew by 4.2% in November, FHFA's index found.

Paying off debt and making home repairs are the top reasons homeowners choose a cash-out refinance, per the bureau's report.

Higher mortgage rates will persist through 2026, affecting sales and refinancings. Those expectations led Fannie Mae to cut its volume outlook for the next two years.

Commoditization of mortgages, plus technology that eases the refinance process, and the regulatory environment, all contributed to the decision.

Even though senior home values are still near the all-time high, other data shows fewer are turning to reverse mortgages to ease a potential financial crunch.

The Freddie Mac mortgage rate tracker on Thursday morning showed the conforming 30-year fixed rate mortgage creep closer to the 7% level last seen in May.

Mortgage rates should decline very gradually next year as the Federal Reserve will keep to its implied path of short-term rate reductions, Freddie Mac said.

The watchdog accuses Rocket Homes and The Mitchell Group brokerage of initiating a plan to generate origination business for Rocket Mortgage.

Over the past two weeks, the 10-year Treasury yield, priced on market expectations, increased over 40 basis points and that is finally being seen in the Freddie Mac survey.

Mortgage originators should expect more of those interest rate dips that took place in September, but when they happen is the unknown factor, economists said.

But the Federal Housing Administration program was the only mortgage loan type to gain market share month-to-month as measured by rate lock percentage.

The share of underwater mortgages also grew for the first time in almost two years during the third quarter, Corelogic found.

The average cost for a loan seller to buy back a mortgage from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac for defects is over $32,000, a study from Reggora and Stratmor found.

For the second time in the past three weeks, the 30-year fixed mortgage moved lower, but investors want clarity about U.S. economic policy, Freddie Mac said.

Government securitization guarantor Ginnie Mae got the terms for the popular HMBS 2.0 program across the finish line ahead of a major change in federal leadership.