Secondary

With conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac well into its seventh year, the government has now had control of the housing agencies longer than 47 members of the Senate have been office.

Homeowners associations seeking unpaid dues are seizing on a court decision allowing them to foreclose on properties ahead of banks, and the FHFA is litigating to defend Fannie and Freddie mortgages. Private lenders, meanwhile, are trying to keep the problem from spreading to more states.

Progress Residential priced its second securitization of single-family rental properties.

Purchases of new homes jumped in December to the highest level in more than six years, a sign the industry is poised to keep expanding in 2015.

CoreLogic Inc., the property-data firm spun off from First American Financial Corp., hired Frank Nothaft from Freddie Mac as its chief economist.

Over 50% of mortgage lenders said they plan to increase their marketing towards first-time homebuyers in 2015 to take advantage of changes in conforming and government lending programs.

Ocwen Financial Corp., one of the biggest U.S. mortgage servicers, rejected as "groundless" accusations by an investor group that the company’s practices created defaults on home-loan bonds backed by debt it oversees.

Early signs point to a wave of Federal Housing Administration borrowers trying to tap into lower prices for mortgage backing.

Freddie Mac is selling $410 million of deeply delinquent U.S. home loans in its second sale of the debt.

Mortgage professional hiring and new job appointments for the week ending Jan. 23.