Rood, whose two decades of mortgage industry experience include serving as of Senior Director and Principal of Fannie Mae’s eBusiness Division, told radio host Jim Bohannon that the recent surge in apartment construction was largely due to developers taking advantage of millennials who have aspirations of homeownership, but cannot afford it but want to get out of their parents' houses.

The Federal Reserve reported in its Beige Book on Current Economic Conditions for May 2015 that residential real estate activity and construction has expanded in most districts since the previous Beige Book report in mid-April and that outlooks were "largely positive."

Cordray responded to the lawmakers' letter on June 3, stating the Bureau's desire for a smooth transition and that since the rule was published in November 2013, the CFPB has made it a point to "engage directly and intensively with financial institutions and vendors through a formal regulatory implementation project."

In May 2015, there were 69,286 total bankruptcy filings, down from May 2014's total of 85,711. May 2015's total also represented a month-over-month decline from April's total of 77,884, although there were two fewer filing days in May (20) than there were in April (22). Had filings continued at their May rate of 3,464 filings per day for two more days, May's total of filings would have been less than 2,000 fewer than April's.

Real estate and mortgage industry services provider Clayton Holdings has announced the hiring of Suzanne Singer as senior managing director of business development.

Judge Shira Sheindlin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Manhattan ruled HSBC Holdings must face three lawsuits from investors that claim the bank tried to hide defects in residential mortgage-backed securities from them before the crisis,

Home prices excluding distressed sales, which are normally discounted at 20 percent or more, actually appreciated at a lower rate month-over-month in April (2.3 percent) than home prices including distressed sales appreciated (2.7 percent).

The latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index released in mid-May reports that about two-thirds of new and existing homes sold in the first quarter of 2015 were affordable to families that earned $65,800, which is the U.S. median yearly income, according to NAHB

Counsel's Corner is an ongoing series in which DS News talks with default servicing attorneys around the country about the most pressing issues facing the default servicing industry. This installment features Luke Sosnicki from Dykema's Los Angeles office, discussing RESPA’s new loss mitigation rules implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in January 2014 and resulting litigation around those rules.

Anselmo Lindberg Oliver LLC, a default servicing law firm that serves clients in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Michigan, has recently announced the addition of four new associate attorneys – Mary Spitz, Alexander J. Toth, Luke Wiley, and Berkely Cobb – to its Default Practice Group.