| Jan 20, 2012 9:43AM The proposed down payment standards for new mortgages might push 60 percent of potential borrowers into high-cost loans or out of the housing market altogether according to a paper released today by the Center for Responsible Lending. The paper, Balancing Risk and Access: Underwriting Standards for Qualified Residential Mortgages , is the result of a study to weigh the effects of proposed underwriting guidelines for qualified residential mortgages (QRM) , mortgages that are exempt from the risk retention... Jan 20, 2012 11:56AM Existing home sales edged higher for the third consecutive month according to data released this morning by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). December sales rose 5.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis to an annual pace of 4.61 million over November sales. Those sales, however, were revised downward to 4.39 million from the 4.42 million estimate released last month. December sales were 3.6 percent higher than the 4.45 million level recorded in December 2010. NAR reports there were...
 | 
