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Blackstone is the largest single private owner of residential homes in the U.S. with approximately 47,000 homes and about $90 billion in real estate assets. Schwarzman said his company is putting money into the housing market, although not as much as it was during the height of the financial crisis.

The most recent FHFA index, released Tuesday, revealed that interest rates have increased slightly from February to March on several levels. The average interest rates on all mortgage loans for March jumped 3 basis points from February, from 3.77 percent to 3.8 percent.

The first quarter of 2015 also brought in a 15 percent increase in revenue and a 2 percent decline in operating expenses when compared to 2014, and interest-earning assets rose 8 percent over the last quarter. Warehouse lending also saw an increase of 15 percent since 2014.

Plain City, Ohio-based A2Z Field Services has announced the retirement of its president, Bill McMullen, and the promotion of longtime SVP Amie Sparks-Beebe to the position of president and CEO with the company.

The Senator contends in his letter that only Congress can create government officers and that Congress has not given HUD the power to bestow an assistant secretary's responsibility onto a principal deputy assistant secretary. Grassley pointed out in his letter that Congress passed the Vacancies Reform Act in 1998 that provided several mechanisms to fill vacancies in government offices, and "[c]reating new job titles is not among the allowable mechanisms listed."

When the Federal Reserve concludes its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, the nation could see increased interest rates for the first time in nine years. . . . Experts say there are dozens of factors that must be considered before the Fed can make a decision, and a questionable economy makes it even more difficult.

According to the survey, three of every 10 potential homebuyers intend to purchase a home in the next 18 months, and 62 percent think now is a better time to purchase than last year. In fact, 32 percent attribute their intent to buy to current low mortgage rates. Another 35 percent said if 30-year fixed mortgage rates were to rise above 4 percent, it would delay their purchase.

Cleveland, Ohio-based mortgage field services firm Safeguard Properties has announced the promotion of Michael Greenbaum to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Freddie Mac's total mortgage portfolio expanded at an annualized rate of 0.9 percent in March, the sixth time in the past seven months the portfolio has expanded, while the serious delinquency rate on single-family loans fell to its lowest level in six and a half years, according to Freddie Mac's March 2015 Monthly Volume Summary released on Monday.

But while earnings dropped, mortgage-banking income and actual revenues for BB&T both increased. Since Q1 last year, mortgage-banking income rose by 48.6 percent, and total revenues for the company jumped by 1.5 percent, or $34 million, coming in at $2.3 billion total.