Servicing

National house prices will continue to decline through the first half of 2011, but local markets will experience varying degrees of decreases, according to Moody's Analytics.

Lender Processing Services reports that by the end of October 2010 the total U.S. foreclosure inventory rate reached 3.92%, marking an all time high in the size of the inventory.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has made a move that has prevented what otherwise might have been a shutdown of the securitized market in late January, according to the American Securitization Forum.

New home sales slid 8.1% in October from the previous month but some are forecasting that builders will see a rebound in sales next near.

Mortgage application volume increased by 2.1% over last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, as a gain in purchase applications to their highest level since spring more than made up for a decline in refinance applications to their lowest point since the start of the summer, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors LLC, Denver, is selling a $225 million package of Fannie Mae residential loan bulk mortgage servicing rights for an undisclosed seller. The bid deadline is Dec. 7.

Fannie Mae issued nearly $70 billion in mortgage-backed securities in October -- its highest since the 2009 refinancing boom fueled by Federal Reserve purchases of agency MBS.

The federal interagency foreclosure task force that has been examining the largest mortgage servicers has been given a broader mandate by the new Financial Stability Oversight Council that held its second meeting on Tuesday.

CoreLogic reports that there is a “growing area of suspicious activity” in real estate owned sales, and the REO market represents a larger risk to the mortgage industry than short sales.

While widespread foreclosures have resulted in the flood of real estate owned properties for sale on the market depressed housing prices over the past three years, analysts at Credit Suisse project the recent slowdown in completed foreclosures brought on by robo-signing-related foreclosure moratoria will result in even greater decreases in home sales in 4Q10.