Origination

Following Elizabeth Duke's comments on the impact capacity constraints are having on the housing market, Capital Economics released an update with a similar focus.

Republic Mortgage Home Loans, a Utah-based mortgage lender, announced the release of a new mobile app exclusively for its borrowers and applicants.

In Pennsylvania, GMH Mortgage Services LLC announced the hiring of Janine Ranski as regional sales manager and assistant VP for the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania market.

VirPack, a mortgage industry leader in document management, and IDS Inc., a provider of mortgage documents and compliance, are teaming up to streamline initial disclosures.

ZipRealty analyzed two years' worth of multiple listing service data and Census Bureau information to come up with a list of the top 10 most affordable housing markets of 2013. The coveted title of "Most Affordable Market of 2013" goes to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where the median sales price is 5.27 times the median household income. Meanwhile, metros located on or close to the coasts make up the list of least affordable areas. Washington, D.C., takes the top spot, with the average median price costing 16.78 times the average household income.

Women are less likely to be approved for mortgage loans than their male counterparts, even when loan-to-income ratios are equal, according to a new study from the Woodstock Institute, a Chicago-based, nonprofit research and policy organization. The findings reveal an 8 percent disparity between the likelihood of a woman and man with similar loan-to-income ratios receiving a purchase loan and a 21 percent disparity among approval rates for male and female refinance applicants.

Unexpectedly positive employment and spending data drove mortgage rates to their highest level since August last week, according to Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com.

House prices increased 9.7 percent year-over-year in January, continuing a recent trend, and prices show "no signs of an imminent slowdown," according to Capital Economics.

Leads360, a leader in cloud-based intelligent sales automation solutions based in Los Angeles, announced the addition of industry vet Kelly Booth as director of the company's mortgage unit.

Effective immediately, Bank of Commerce Mortgage will be called simply Commerce Mortgage. According to a press release, the name change is consistent with the terms of the re-acquisition of 51 percent of the equity back from Bank of Commerce Holdings, which sold back the ownership position to the partners of Simonich Corporation, Scott Simonich and Mario De Tomasi.