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Among California homeowners encountering foreclosure, those with higher loan amounts tended to hold on to their homes longer than those with lower loan amounts, according to ForeclosureRadar. The firm determined a difference in foreclosure timelines of 270 days between loans of less than $417,000 and loans of more than $550,000. ""Perhaps the difference lies in the fact that more affluent homeowners have the means to tap into resources to help delay foreclosure, or that larger loans on expensive homes are more complex and take longer to disentangle,"" ForeclosureRadar explained.

On a national level, the relationship between building permits and foreclosure starts resembled that of a seesaw in the first quarter, with an equal but opposite rise and fall, but in some markets, both permits and foreclosures are on the rise, according to a report from RealtyTrac. After analyzing data from HUD, the online foreclosure marketplace found single-family building permits increased 27 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to the highest level in five years, while foreclosure starts fell 27 percent during the same time period to the lowest level since the second quarter of 2006.

First time claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended May 11 rose 32,000 to, 360,000, the highest level since the end of March, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected initial claims to increase to 330,000. First time jobless claims for the week ended May were revised up to 328,000 from the originally reported 323,000.

In sharp contrast to reports of improving builder confidence, housing starts plunged at the steepest rate in more than two years in April, falling to a five-month low even as housing permits surged, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly Thursday. The 16.5 percent month-to-month drop in starts to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 853,000 caught economists by surprise. The consensus forecast had been starts would fall--but to 969,000 from March's originally reported 1,036,000.

FDIC announced Tuesday the closure of Central Arizona Bank (Scottsdale) by the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions. To protect depositors of the failed bank, FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Western State Bank (Devils Lake, North Dakota).

From January through March, servicers implemented 244,933 loan modifications, according to HOPE NOW. At the same time, 83,394 borrowers avoided foreclosure through the short sale process. This brings the combined total for loan modifications and short sales to 328,327 for the first quarter. Meanwhile, HOPE NOW data showed foreclosure sales fell 14 percent to 161,641. Although foreclosure sales were down, foreclosure starts increased 30 percent in the first quarter to about 472,000.

As interest rates stay low, housing affordability across the country remained strong in the first quarter but showed signs of weakening, according to data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). According to the index, 73.7 percent of new and existing-homes sold in the first quarter of this year were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $64,400. In the fourth quarter of last year, 74.9 percent of homes were considered to be affordable to median-income earners.

Lender Processing Services, Inc. introduced the web-based Workout Interaction Tool (WIT), which provides data from its MSP servicing system to and from Fannie Mae’s Servicing Management Default Underwriter (SMDU) platform. LPS' WIT provides mortgage servicers with access to Fannie Mae's SMDU to provide consistent, real-time decisions on loan modifications and other workout solutions for struggling homeowners.

Two men who allegedly operated online foreclosure rescue businesses pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced in a statement. According to the statement, Mark S. Farhood of San Diego and Jason S. Sant of Lecanto, Florida co-owned Home Advocate Trustees, which also went by several other names. Farhood and Sant claimed their businesses purchased distressed real estate to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

U.S. households experienced higher levels of financial distress in the first quarter as they faced budget constraints and a drop in the savings rate, according to the CredAbility Consumer Distress Index. With a score below 70 indicating a state of financial distress, households barely stayed out of distress with a score of 70.7 out of 100 in the first quarter of this year, down from 71.77 in the previous quarter, CredAbility reported.