Mortgage defaults

The decline in foreclosures and short sales is contributing to the dearth of housing inventory, complicating the prospects for home buyers feeling the pinch of tight credit and lenders that need purchase mortgages to supplant refinancing once interest rates rise.

California Gov. Jerry Brown violated state law by diverting more than $331 million in mortgage settlement funds for uses unrelated to housing, a Superior Court judge ruled.

A new Department of Housing and Urban Development policy will make it easier for servicers to transfer certain reverse mortgages back to HUD instead of foreclosing on widowed nonborrower spouses.

A decade after home sales peaked, 15.4% of owners in the first quarter owed more on their mortgages than their properties were worth.

Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro touted the Federal Housing Administration’s recent improvement on Thursday, saying it was on a trajectory to hit its statutory minimum and had recently seen a "significant uptick in refinancings."

The number of vacant and abandoned properties that are in foreclosure decreased in the second quarter, according to a RealtyTrac report.

Most Americans still believe the country remains in a housing crisis, according to a new study from the MacArthur Foundation.

The California Reinvestment Coalition has called for a federal investigation into the foreclosure policies of OneWest Bank in minority neighborhoods.

The number of homes in foreclosure continues to decrease, although the number of homeowners in default or in foreclosure proceedings remains higher than pre-financial-crisis levels, according to CoreLogic.

Invitation Homes, a subsidiary of Blackstone Group, is back with its third single-family rental securitization of the year.

Three states — Florida, New York and New Jersey — held almost 30% of all seriously delinquent and active foreclosure homes nationwide in April, according to Black Knight Financial Services.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. won a round in a long- running dispute with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., avoiding some of the liabilities tied to its 2008 takeover of Washington Mutual Inc.'s banking operations.

Buyers of the unrated B tranche, which transfers the first 100 basis points of losses when homeowners default, will be paid a spread of 795 basis points over one-month Libor.

LenderLive in Denver has acquired Walz Group, a provider of certified mailing services.

A Florida court on Friday sided with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the state over claims that a law firm charged illegal fees to consumers seeking foreclosure relief.

There could be a new wave of delinquencies among home equity line of credit borrowers as a large percentage are moving into the repayment phase, a report from Experian said.

Colony American Homes paid up for its latest securitization of single-family rental homes, which has a duration-weighted blended interest rate of Libor plus 188.8 basis points.

Freddie Mac auctioned off 1,052 delinquent nonperforming loans serviced by Ocwen on May 21 as part of its Standard Pool Offerings.

In the wake of recent court rulings upholding homeowners associations' "super lien" status in foreclosures, mortgage vendors have flooded the market with products to help servicers and investors manage this long-standing threat.

Colony American Homes is working on its third-ever single-family rental securitization, according to Kroll Bond Ratings Agency.