About 1.5 percent of all homes with a mortgage in the United States were in some state of foreclosure in November 2014, the lowest foreclosure rate since March 2008, according to CoreLogic's November 2014 National Foreclosure Report. Foreclosure inventory, which includes homes in any state of foreclosure, plummeted year-over-year in November, falling from 880,000 in November 2013 to 567,000 in November 2014 – a decline of 35.5 percent. November represented the 37th consecutive month in which foreclosure inventory declined year-over-year and the 26th straight month in which the nation's foreclosure inventory saw a double-digit percentage decline.

New York-based credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's is close to a $1 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the misrepresentation of mortgage-backed securities to investors in the years leading up to the financial crisis in 2008, according to multiple media reports.

Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Julián Castro told the audience at the National Press Club Tuesday afternoon that it was time for the nation to "remove the stigma" promoting homeownership. During his hour-long speech at the Press Club in Washington, D.C., which included a question and answer session, Castro spoke of the economic progress the nation made in 2014, such as experiencing the fastest job growth rate in 15 years, and he addressed HUD's initiatives which are aimed at promoting, increasing, and expanding opportunities for Americans to own a home.

Keeping in line with Republicans' promises of more scrutiny of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), U.S. Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has written a letter urging the CFPB to abandon plans to renovate its office building in favor of more cost-effective alternatives. Hensarling addressed the letter, dated January 12, 2015, to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry, and U.S. General Services Administrator Daniel Tangherlini.

Investment banker Antonio Weiss, President Barack Obama's nominee for the position of U.S. Treasury Undersecretary, has withdrawn himself from consideration for the position, according to multiple media reports.

A former loan guarantee specialist for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was sentenced to 26 months in a federal prison for defrauding the federal government of $843,000, according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Loan modifications facilitated through the government's Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP) have historically re-defaulted at a lower rate than proprietary loan modifications, but HAMP mods facilitated in 2014 began re-defaulting at a higher rate than those modified in the two previous years, according to Black Knight Financial Services' November 2014 Mortgage Monitor released on Monday.

Rogers Townsend & Thomas, a banking, default services, insurance, real estate, construction, corporate, and title services sectors law firm, has announced that default services attorneys Robert P. Davis and Michael L. Spicer have been elected Shareholders in the firm.

Jordan Capital Finance (JCF), a private lender backed by Garrison Investment Group, has announced that real estate and finance industry veteran Noah Martin has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Business Development.

One of the main points in President Barack Obama's speech about housing in Phoenix on Thursday was how far the housing industry has come since the bust of 2008 and particularly since he took office in January 2009. The president admitted that the housing market has not come all the way back yet and there is still work to be done. But did he overestimate just how far the housing market has come and the role his administration's policies have played in the recovery? It's possible, according to one analyst.