Delinquency rates for some residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) are beginning to improve. According to the latest performance metrics results from New York-based Fitch Ratings, April marked the first month in four years that serious delinquencies for U.S. Alt-A RMBS have declined. In addition, subprime late-pays fell for the second straight month, while prime RMBS delinquencies increased just slightly.

Home values in 106 of the 135 markets tracked by Zillow continued to decline on a year-over-year basis in the first quarter of this year, causing the Zillow Home Value Index to fall 3.8 percent from the same quarter last year and 1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009 to $183,700. As a result, negative equity across the country remained high, with 23.3 percent of single-family homes underwater, the company said. Zillow also reported that foreclosures reached a new peak in March.

The decline in the commercial real estate market is finally beginning to level off, but tremendous uncertainty remains about the pace and strength of this recovery, according to the Real Estate Roundtable's latest quarterly Sentiment Survey. Of the 100-plus senior real estate executives who participated in the second quarter survey, 82 percent characterized market conditions today as better than a year ago, up from 73 percent in the first quarter. But, while sentiment is up, that's not to say things are ""good,"" Jeffrey DeBoer, president and CEO of the Roundtable, said.

After steadily increasing for 12 consecutive quarters, the national mortgage loan delinquency rate--the ratio of borrowers 60 or more days past due--dipped down to 6.77 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to data released Monday by TransUnion. This statistic, which is traditionally seen as a precursor to foreclosure, reflects a 1.74 percent decline from the previous quarter's 6.89 percent average. TransUnion reported that delinquency rates in the first quarter continued to be the highest in Nevada and Florida, both above 14 percent.

The Fisher Law Group, PLLC, based in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, recently appointed Doreen Strothman as managing attorney of foreclosure. She has been with the Fisher Law Group since 2000, and her practice is concentrated in the areas of real estate, foreclosure, mortgage finance, bankruptcy, and litigation.

NewOak Capital LLC, an advisory, asset management, and capital markets firm based in New York, recently announced that it has appointed Mark R. Ruh as managing director and senior portfolio manager of financial services investments. In his new position, Ruh will serve as the head of NewOak's bank recapitalization investment efforts and will report to the financial services investments committee.

Just four months after its launch, the Responsible Homeowner Reward (RH Reward) program has offered more than $86 million in rewards to eligible borrowers nationwide as an incentive to remain current on their mortgage payments. As DSNews.com previously reported, the RH Reward program was developed by the Loan Value Group LLC (LVG), a Rumson, New Jersey-based company, in response to the increasing rate of strategic defaults, in which homeowners walk away when the value of their mortgage exceeds their house value - even if they can afford the monthly payments.

The true cause of the foreclosure crisis is up for debate. Did banks prey on unwitting consumers, or did households overreach and borrow more than they could afford? Economists at the University of Arkansas recently completed a study to answer that very question. The study, The Foreclosure Crisis: Did Wall Street Practice Predatory Lending or Did Households Overreach?, found the latter to be true. Although, the researchers were careful not to excuse Wall Street banks, as they say reckless lending enabled households to become dangerously leveraged.

American International Group, Inc. (AIG), released its first quarter 2010 earnings report on Friday, posting a net income of $1.5 billion, or $2.16 per diluted common share. This was a significant change from the first quarter of last year when the company reported a net loss of $4.4 billion. First quarter earnings were driven in part by profits from United Guaranty Corporation (UCG), AIG's mortgage guaranty insurer, which reported net earnings of $73 million based on improved levels of delinquencies and defaults.

With foreclosures, housing vacancies, and mortgage fraud at all-time highs, it's no secret that the real estate sector is struggling. These intertwined problems are threatening the stability of entire neighborhoods, making the search for effective responses crucial. As part of this search, the Bureau of Justice Assistance brought together experts from around the country to examine possible solutions to these challenges, and on Friday released a report outlining the various strategies that were discussed.