Despite slower growth early in the year and a disappointing showing in August, the labor market managed to add more than 1.7 million jobs in 2014's first eight months, coming in at 300,000 more than average over the previous three years as payrolls kept up a steady streak of monthly gains above 200,000.
Read More »OCC: Mortgage Performance Up, Foreclosures Down
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reported that 92.9 percent of mortgages nationwide were performing as of the end of June, according to the OCC Mortgage Metrics Report, Second Quarter 2014. The number of performing mortgages increased slightly from Q2 2013, when 90.6 percent of mortgages were reported as performing.
Read More »Report: GSEs Prevented 80,000 Foreclosures in Q2
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac prevented nearly 80,000 foreclosures nationwide in the second quarter, raising the total number of foreclosures prevented since the start of the conservatorship in September 2008 to 3.3 million, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) indicated in its report on foreclosure prevention for Q2 2014 released on September 24.
Read More »Technology Leaders Launch Homeowner Solutions Platform
HLP, which was the model technology platform in the National Mortgage Settlement and has long been a real estate industry industry technology leader, has partnered with IndiSoft, a technology provider for healthcare, legal, and real estate industries based in Columbia, Maryland, to launch the National Homeownership Solutions Platform (NHP). The goal of NHP is to bring all the parties in the home purchase process together into one central location, allowing them to communicate with each other online and in real time.
Read More »Underwater Rate Dips; Borrower Equity Jumps by $1 Trillion
While the overall rise in equity marks another positive step forward for the housing market, it's undercut by the fact that nearly 9 million homes are "under-equitied," meaning the properties have less than 20 percent equity. Out of that group, 1.3 million have less than 5 percent equity, putting them just barely above water.
Read More »CFPB Official Discusses New Servicing Rules
The laws are constantly changing, however, making compliance an even further complicated issue. Laurie Maggiano, a program manager for servicing and secondary markets at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), was on hand to discuss the ever-changing world of servicing statutes for the "CFPB's National Servicing Standards – Update Session" section of the Compliance Lab on September 15.
Read More »Wells Fargo’s J.K. Huey Receives 2014 Five Star Lifetime Achievement Award
J.K. Huey of Wells Fargo was presented with the 2014 Five Star Lifetime Achievement Award at the Women in Housing Leadership Summit September 16 as part of the 11th Annual Five Star Conference and Expo.
Read More »Foreclosure Inventory Falls, But Delinquency Rate Rises in August
Foreclosure inventory is down nationwide, but delinquency rate is up, according to Black Knight Financial Services' "First Look" at August Mortgage Data released on September 25.
Read More »Distressed Home Sale Prices Increase in August
The August median price of U.S. distressed homes climbed both monthly and annually, according to RealtyTrac's August 2014 U.S. Residential and Foreclosure Sales Report released on Sept. 25.
Read More »Housing Demand Stays Strong Despite Drop in Inventory
More interesting, Redfin said, was the shift in supply and demand dynamics: Even as new listings plunged 9.3 percent—nearly triple the average July-to-August decline—numbers of customers touring homes and making offers rose, demonstrating buyers aren't backing off.
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