Data and information management

The house price index published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency has edged up three consecutive months.

Six out of 10 homeowners who received a loan modification stopped paying their mortgage again after 18 months, but there may be a modest silver lining buried in the high recidivism rates.

Loan brokers using table funding captured 9.9% of the origination market in the first quarter, a slight gain from 4Q when the sector had a 9.7% share, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

A Texas community bank is leading a lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Sales of single-family homes, condominiums and cooperatives fell to a 4.55 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in May from a 4.62 million rate in April.

Worsening economic indicators in the past week have driven the average weekly rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage back downward to a new low of 3.66%.

Freddie Mac raised its estimate for 2012 originations to $1.45 trillion in its latest economic and housing market outlook, citing lower expected 30-year rates. Freddie previously had forecast that 2012 would end with a total of just $1.3 trillion in originations.

Mortgage applications decreased by just under 1% for the week ending June 15, but FHA refinancings soared.

The office vacancy rate in major Canadian cities fell to 5% in the second quarter from 5.4% in the first quarter, the second time the reading has been this low since 1985.

Fannie Mae's economists now believe that for all of 2012, originations will come in at $1.34 trillion, compared to a month ago forecast of $1.31 trillion.

Single-family housing starts rose in May for the third straight month while multifamily activity fell 24% from April’s construction pace.

Wells Fargo & Co. ended March with $1.84 trillion of residential servicing contracts on its books, once again ranking first—but barely growing its market share.

FCI Lender Services recently took in $106.5 million worth of servicing assignments on nonperforming loans pools purchased by private investors.

The Census Bureau said the number of housing units in the U.S. increased a scant 0.36% last year to 132.3 million.

U.S. consumers owed $8.995 trillion on their residential loans at the end of March – the lowest debt figure recorded in almost five years, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

Foreclosure filings in May exceeded the 200,000 mark for the first time in three months as more servicers moved to take possession of real estate collateralized by delinquent home mortgages.

Thanks to rock bottom interest rates new mortgage applications spiked by 18% for the week ending June 8 on a sequential basis.

The median net worth for American families plummeted by 38.8% between 2007 and 2010, falling to a level not seen since 1992, according to a Federal Reserve study on consumer finances.

The question most people seem to be asking is whether the flat origination fee proposal is going to become law. While I do not have a crystal ball, here is my take on it: The CFPB will certainly err in favor of certain consumer groups over the industry, but won't do so when there is little to gain.

The government is sharpening its focus on how mortgage lenders receive the information they use to manage pending and existing loans.