In what seems to be an ever-increasing trend, both sales and prices of homes and condos in Connecticut increased on a year-over-year basis in April, according to a recent report by the Warren Group, a provider of real estate data in New England. ""Sales of single-family homes and condos have been climbing year-over-year for seven straight months now and prices have also been on the rise,"" said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of the Warren Group.

Oregon Housing and Community Services, one of five state housing finance agencies selected to receive foreclosure assistance funds through the second round of the administration's Hardest Hit Fund, has submitted a proposal to the Treasury Department detailing how it plans to use its $88 million allocation. The department said its proposal, which comprises five separate programs, will serve a minimum of 6,300 struggling homeowners.

After weeks of continuous declines, mortgage rates remained nearly unchanged for the week ending June 3, 2010, Freddie Mac and Bankrate reported Thursday. According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.79 percent this week, barely inching up from last week's average of 4.78 percent. Bankrate's study put 30-year rates at 4.95 percent this week, up slightly from 4.92 percent.

In an announcement Tuesday, Ginnie Mae described specific details surrounding two important operational changes to Ginnie II multiple-issuer pools. The program changes are aimed at minimizing financial risk for warehouse lenders and making the program more efficient for all lenders, the association said in a statement.

Interthinx announced Tuesday that it has formed a working relationship with Ellie Mae that includes the integration of the Interthinx PredProtect Compliance Suite into the Ellie Mae Network. The company says this integration provides lenders with the ability to verify that their loans are in compliance with hundreds of federal and state anti-predatory lending requirements.

In an effort to support mortgage servicers' need for a strategic, comprehensive short sale offering, LenderLive Network Inc., a Denver-based provider of business process outsourcing and technology to the financial industry, has expanded its loss mitigation initiative to include the launch of LenderLive Default Solutions. This new short sale offering is powered through two strategic partnerships: One with the technology-based real estate and loan disposition company ClearMarkets LLC, and another with Keller Williams Global Property Solutions LLC through its KW Commercial Division.

Revealing a discouraging forecast for the U.S. housing market, a recent consumer poll found that 49 percent of respondents feel they will never be able to save enough money for a downpayment on a home. The poll, conducted by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, found that of those remaining, just 12 percent feel they would have no trouble coming up with a 20 percent downpayment. With today's turbulent housing market, the problem of being unable to afford a downpayment is spreading.

In a reflection of the broad impact of the homebuyer tax credit and favorable housing affordability conditions, April marked the third consecutive month that pending homes sales have risen, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Wednesday. NAR's pending sales index, which is based on contracts signed during the month, climbed 6 percent compared to March and soared 22.4 percent from April of last year, as buyers rushed to sign contracts before the April 30 deadline of the extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit.

Following an 11.3 percent surge the week prior, overall mortgage loan application volume nudged up just 0.9 percent for the week ending May 28, 2010, as refinance applications began to level out and purchase applications continued to decline, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday. According to MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the purchase index fell 4.1 percent from one week earlier, while the refinance index jumped 2.4 percent.

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (FNF), a Jacksonville, Florida-based provider of title insurance, mortgage services, specialty insurance, and information services, announced Tuesday the appointment of George P. Scanlon as COO. In his new role, Scanlon will assume responsibility for the finance, treasury, investor relations, corporate functions, and specialty insurance business of FNF.