U.S. Representative Ed Royce (R-California), a senior member of the House Finances Services Committee, was assigned to the Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Entities Subcommittee and the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee by HFS Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), according to an announcement from Royce's website on Friday.

Preliminary unaudited results indicate that the Federal Home Loan Banks of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board paid a record amount of approximately $98.7 billion out of their 2014 estimated net income of $101.5 billion to the U.S. Department of Treasury, according to an announcement from the Fed on Friday.

The U.S. labor market reported a strong gain of 252,000 jobs on the payrolls for December in data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday. December's job gain was close to 2014's average monthly increase and 2014 was the best year of job growth in the U.S. since 1999. According to Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan, the underlying data may not be so encouraging for the housing market, however.

Ohio state lawmakers plan to re-introduce a bill that would expedite the foreclosure process on residential homes and reduce the amount of time properties sit vacant, according to Ohio State Representative Cheryl Grossman. The bill, known as Ohio HB 223, was originally introduced into the Ohio House by Grossman, a Republican (the bill's primary sponsor), and Representative Michael Curtin, a Democrat, in June 2013.

Cleveland, Ohio-based default services law firm Weltman, Weinberg & Reis has announced the election of two new partners for 2015, Brady J. Lighthall and Keri P. Ebeck.

In a widely anticipated move, U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) was named Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for the 114th Congress, according to an announcement from Shelby's website Thursday.

A recent poll conducted by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) showed that two-thirds of respondents showed uncertainty with regards how to achieve financial stability. Sixty-six percent of respondents said that "I want financial stability, but don't know how to get there."

In a 30-minute speech Thursday morning at Central High School in Phoenix, Arizona, President Barack Obama spoke of the progress the housing market has made since 2009 and measures his administration is taking to help everyone achieve homeownership.

Real estate economist and former HUD policy advisor Raphael W. Bostic has been elected as a director on Freddie Mac's board of governors, according to an announcement from the GSE.

The pristine performance of mortgage loans in the U.S. with a vintage of 2009 or later is an indicator that underwriting standards could be loosened, according to CoreLogic senior economist Molly Boesel in an analysis entitled "What's an Acceptable Level of Mortgage Default?" published in CoreLogic's December 2014 edition of The MarketPulse.