Analysis

Ncontracts released The Upside of Third-Party Risk Management: The Practitioner’s Guide to Turning Vendor Risk into Strategic Value, the third book in the company’s Upside Series: Strategic Success for Financial Institutions.

iEmergent, a forecasting and advisory services firm for the financial services, mortgage and real estate industries, announced its support of the newly launched CONVERGENCE Knowledge Hub, a centralized resource designed to help lenders, nonprofit organizations, housing counselors, real estate professionals and community leaders expand access to sustainable homeownership.

As 2026 approaches its midpoint, consumers remain financially optimistic despite persistent affordability challenges that have been heightened by recent geopolitical events. TransUnion’s (NYSE: TRU) Q2 2026 Consumer Pulse study found that 55% of consumers are optimistic about their household finances over the next 12 months, unchanged from last year. Financial pessimism declined to 23%, down from an all-time high of 27% in Q2 2025. The findings are based on a survey of 2,996 U.S. adults conducted between April 23 and May 11, 2026.

Optimal Blue released its May 2026 Market Advantage mortgage data report, which found that mortgage activity continued to cool as higher rates weighed on both purchase and refinance demand. Total rate-lock volume declined 9% month over month (MoM) but remained 7% higher year over year (YoY). Purchase activity continued to dominate production, accounting for just over 81% of total lock volume, while refinance share fell to 19%, its lowest level since June 2025.

ACES Quality Management® (ACES), a provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, released its quarterly ACES Mortgage QC Industry Trends Report covering Q4 2025 and the full calendar year (CY) 2025. The report analyzes post-closing quality control data derived from the ACES Quality Management & Control® software. It said:

The American Financial Services Association, the country’s largest and oldest national consumer credit trade group, released its quarterly Consumer Credit Conditions (C3) Index survey of leading providers of consumer credit, including mortgages, vehicle financing, personal installment loans, and credit cards.

iEmergent, a forecasting and advisory services firm for the financial services, mortgage and real estate industries, announced the release of four new market intelligence dashboards that make it easy for lenders to slice, visualize, export and share historical and forecasted loan production, real estate listing and demographic data.

ACES Quality Management® (ACES), a provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, released its quarterly ACES Mortgage QC Industry Trends Report covering the second quarter (Q2) of 2024. The latest report analyzes post-closing quality control data derived from ACES Quality Management & Control® software. ACES has altered the timing of this report to better reflect Fannie Mae’s accelerated timeline for post-closing quality control reviews.

In STRATMOR Group’s March Insights Report, Principals Jennifer Smith and Jennifer Fortier explore the benefits of regular mortgage process reviews and emphasize the importance of thoughtful planning, execution and ongoing support to ensure successful and sustainable changes in processes.

Veros Real Estate Solutions (Veros) has launched RiskWire.com, a web platform that offers timely real estate news, in-depth economic analysis, and valuable perspectives on the ever-evolving landscape of U.S. housing market.