Where does mortgage tech innovation and funding go in 2025?
National Mortgage News
In-depth analysis, strategy and data spanning the entire residential mortgage industry. An Arizent brand.
Enhancements to current capabilities that can both find new customers and secure better outcomes for them lie at the heart of what technology can offer the mortgage industry in 2025 — and where investment may flow. After a dry spell for venture capital in mortgage technology compared to the fruitful start to the decade, the appetite for innovation gained momentum in the second half of 2024. Widespread advancements in automation, especially with artificial intelligence, combined with a return to profitability for many companies and a growing willingness to go digital, threw the spotlight — and investor interest — back toward technology. The trend provides a boost for digital mortgage advocates and comes as lending volumes climb back upward following the lows of 2022 and 2023.
The latest signals from Federal Reserve officials point to a year in which there's limited mortgage rate relief, which means activity residential lenders engage in to generate funding will likely diversify. Some new traditional mortgage activity could emerge as borrowers get tired of waiting for a large rate drop, but some of next year's market drivers call for more specialized loans. Borrowers also may need to obtain out of the box products to take advantage of high home-equity or access new inventory as it comes online.
Luminate Home Loans asked a judge last week to impose a temporary restraining order to prevent Better from building its retail business with employees and data from Luminate's former Neo Home Loans division. The lender's complaint filed earlier this month seeks $10 million in actual damages, which attorneys asked to triple, and punitive damages of at least $50 million. The lawsuit in a California federal court names three ex-Neo leaders as defendants, including division president Daniel Horanyi. The lender said it began tracking Neo leaders' work devices in October after it learned they were meeting with competitors about leaving.
An irate recipient of unwanted texts and calls is targeting mortgage companies behind some of them with a second lawsuit in as many months. In a late December class action suit filed in a Wisconsin federal court, plaintiff Chet Michael Wilson alleged Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. called and sent multiple text messages after he had already placed his phone number on the national Do Not Call Registry. Wilson also claimed he was not the intended recipient of the correspondence in question.
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