New construction mortgage lending rebounds

👋 Good morning. This is Mortgage Nuggets, your source for quick and relevant mortgage news. Today’s newsletter is 600 words, a 2.5-minute read.

1. New construction mortgage lending rebounds

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey data for April 2024 revealed that mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 22.1% compared to a year ago.

Compared to March 2024, applications increased by 2%. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns. Dig deeper

2. Former Norcom reverse mortgage team joins Supreme Lending

Following CMG Financial’s acquisition of Norcom’s retail division last month, Norcom Mortgage’s former reverse mortgage team has joined Texas-based Supreme Lending.

Supreme's new reverse mortgage team will be headed up by SVP of Reverse Lending John Luddy.

“Myself and my team went out to find what we hoped would be our forever home and we did,” Luddy told NMP this week. “We built a matrix of what was important to us and Supreme proved to be the right fit.”

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3. More Nuggets

🏘️ Why second mortgages could make a comeback. (Axios)

📈 Stubbornly high rents prevent Fed from finishing inflation fight. (WSJ)

📝 FinLocker raises $17M in Series B funding round. (Yahoo)

💸 What top mortgage execs were paid in 2023. (NMN)

4. Realtor CEO Damian Eales: CoStar is lying about being the No. 2 portal

At the National Association of Realtors' annual meeting, Realtor.com CEO Damian Eales critiqued CoStar Group’s claim that its Homes.com has surpassed Realtor.com in traffic.

Eales highlighted that CoStar's reported figures for Homes.com include data from 17 other sites, misleadingly inflating its traffic numbers. "If Zillow is the hungry Lion, then perhaps CoStar is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. A new competitor who plays by their own rules. We are calling out the falsehoods in their audience claims at the moment,” Eales stated.

Meanwhile, CoStar defended its analytics, claiming that both the Homes.com network and the site alone attract more visitors than Realtor.com reports.

5. Rocket settles fair lending complaint on tribal lands

Rocket Mortgage has settled with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to resolve claims of housing discrimination.

The allegations arose from a complaint that Rocket and a mortgage banker denied a mortgage application based on race in Saint Ignatius, Montana. Although Rocket did not admit fault, they agreed to pay the complainants $65,000 and invest $30,000 in homeownership programs for Native Americans.

Additionally, the company will provide fair lending training to its employees and enhance outreach for financing on Native American reservations.

You’re all caught up. See you on Friday!

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