In an announcement Thursday, Allonhill, a Denver-based third-party review firm specializing in mortgage due diligence and credit risk management, said it has formally released a complete securitization solution for issuer and underwriters of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).

According to a recent report by DebtX, a full-service loan sale advisor based in Boston, the aggregate value of DebtX-priced commercial real estate (CRE) loans that collateralized commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) dropped to 75.9 percent as of December 31, 2009, falling 1.8 percent from November 30, 2009.

According to Freddie Mac’s quarterly Refinance Report, 33 percent of borrowers who refinanced their loan in the fourth quarter of 2009 lowered their principal balance. This was the highest cash-in share recorded since the GSE began tracking the characteristics of refinance transactions in 1985.

Raymond A. Redlingshafer was recently named senior managing director of Clayton Holdings, LLC, a provider of customized risk analysis, loss mitigation, operational solutions, and staffing services to the mortgage industry, according to an announcement Thursday by the Shelton, Connecticut-based company.

Pro Teck Valuation Services, a real estate valuation and risk solutions provider based in Waltham, Massachusetts, announced its endorsement of the Title/Appraisal Vendor Management Association's (TAVMA) Standards of Good Practice in Appraisal Management.

Marking the first year-over-year increase since 2004, single-family home sales in Rhode Island jumped nearly 12 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, according to The Warren Group, a Boston-based provider of real estate data in New England. With a total of 7,669 single-family home transactions recorded in 2009, sales were up 11.9 percent from 2008.

Despite negative reports regarding commercial real estate, this down market may be a window of opportunity for investors. According to the CCIM Institute and the Real Estate Research Corporation (RERC), commercial real estate is positioning itself to be an attractive investment on a risk-adjusted basis in 2010 and 2011. Property prices in the retail and apartment sectors, in particular, showed moderate increases in the fourth quarter of 2009, breaking the string of significant price declines during the previous 12 months.

Marking the fourth consecutive week of declines, mortgage rates inched down once again this week, both Freddie Mac and Bankrate reported Thursday. According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, rates for 30-year fixed mortgages averaged 4.98 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending January 28, 2010, down 0.01 percent from last week. Compared to the same week last year, rates are down 0.12 percent.

In an effort to rebuild communities devastated by the foreclosure crisis, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has partnered with the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST), a nonprofit organization that facilitates the transfer of foreclosed and abandoned properties from financial intuitions to local housing organizations. The collaboration will bring more than 1,400 state and local Realtor associations into a side-by-side relationship with nonprofits and state and local leaders to develop targeted plans to bring stabilization to struggling neighborhoods.

Starting this summer, Realtors will have access to an online real estate library with data on every property in the United States. Dubbed the Realtors Property Resource, this new tool is a project by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and gives practitioners access to tax and assessment data; neighborhood, school, and demographic information; and maps and trends.