Bankrate feeding mortgage info to Homescape

A new section on the listings site Homescape offers information on mortgage rates and articles geared for consumers from Bankrate Inc.  more...

Delta Financial, Impac Mortgage announce 650 layoffs

Two mortgage lenders -- Delta Financial Corp. and Impac Mortgage Holdings -- announced layoffs totaling 650 workers Wednesday, adding to the tally of more than 13,000 job cuts in the last week.

Delta Financial Corp. announced it has cut its workforce by 20 percent, laying off 300 workers as it closes wholesale offices in Florida, Texas and California.  more...

Fed move pulls mortgage rates down

Long-term mortgage rates declined this week, helped in part by the Federal Reserve's recent cut of the rate it charges banks for direct loans, Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com reported today.

In Freddie Mac's survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slid to an average 6.52 percent from last week's 6.62 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 6.18 percent from 6.3 percent. Points, which are fees lenders charge for loan processing expressed as a percent of the loan, averaged 0.4 and 0.5, respectively, on the 30- and 15-year loans.  more...

Realtor.com rolls out new features

Move Inc. today announced the launch of several enhancements at the Realtor.com property-search site, including the addition of neighborhood information and the ability for Realtors to post up to 25 photos per listing and embed video content at the site.  more...

BofA injects $2 billion into Countrywide

Countrywide Financial Corp., which last week said it had drawn down an $11.5 billion line of credit with 40 of the world's largest banks, announced Wednesday that it had obtained an additional $2 billion capital infusion from Bank of America -- but it came at a price.

In return for its investment, Bank of America was granted a nonvoting convertible preferred security yielding 7.25 percent annually, which it can convert into common stock in the company at $18 per share.  more...

Overnight real estate rates still lower

Long-term mortgage interest rates sank further Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 4.65 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average fell to 6.17 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate slipped to 5.78 percent. The 1-year adjustable, however, gained to 5.52 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield inched up to 4.96 percent.

Rates and bonds are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...

Layoffs in lending top 13,000 in one week

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. announced Wednesday it will lay off 1,200 workers as it closes its subprime lending subsidiary, bringing to more than 13,000 the number of layoffs announced by mortgage lenders in the last week.

Lehman Brothers said it expects to record $25 million in after-tax charges related to severance payments, and real estate and technology costs in closing its subprime subsidiary BNC Mortgage LLC, plus $27 million in goodwill write-downs.  more...