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Mortgage application volume increased 1.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending May 20, with the gain in purchase applications outpacing the increase in refinancings. However, five weeks of declines in the interest rate on fixed rate loans came to an end, according to figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Although rising new issuance and increasingly successful loan modifications are helping slow commercial MBS loan defaults, delinquencies likely will climb 12% this year, according to a new report from Fitch on fixed rate conduit loans.

Freddie Mac's issuance of mortgage-backed securities fell 5% in April following a 38% drop in March, according to a monthly activity report the GSE issued Wednesday morning.

Retail originations by commercial banks and savings institutions fell 30% in the first quarter, on a sequential basis, according to new figures compiled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Residential Credit Solutions on Tuesday said it sold a $110.6 million asset-backed security collateralized by performing and delinquent mortgages, real estate loans, and property.

CitiMortgage claims that 65% of the attendees at the first four stops of its ‘Road to Recovery’ tour qualified for a loan modification program.

Sterling American Properties is giving up a struggling three-building office complex in Hauppauge, N.Y., to its creditors after more than a year of missed mortgage payments.

In the big picture, while investors counting on muted prepayments today are perhaps not completely ignoring falling rates, they do appear to be less worried about them than government policies.

Carrington Mortgage Services and the Attorney General of Ohio have reached an agreement to work collaboratively in order to help struggling homeowners who are facing foreclosure.

GMAC Mortgage has deals in place with the 19 government agencies that are participating in a ‘Hardest Hit Fund’ to provide assistance to distressed mortgage borrowers.