Even though the number of foreclosure filings has risen dramatically in recent months in some parts of the country--specifically in judicial states--the ratings agency DBRS expects the total number of foreclosure filings to show evidence of a steady decline in 2013 when compared to 2012. This is due to ""the record number of servicers that are using short sales as their primary loss mitigation tool to prevent delinquent loans from entering foreclosure,"" the agency's analysts said in a research note issued Monday.

Home prices in September were up 5 percent year-over-year while home sales posted a 4 percent annual increase, even as housing metrics began their typical seasonal declines, according to Redfin's analysis of activity across 19 major U.S. markets. Between August and September, these 19 markets saw prices decline just 0.8 percent, which Redfin says is a smaller decline than is customary at this time of year. At the same time, the number of homes for sale in the target markets was down 29.3 percent from September 2011.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 180,427 U.S. properties in September, according to RealtyTrac. The total number of filings last month was down 7 percent from August, down 16 percent from September 2011, and was the lowest monthly total recorded by RealtyTrac since July 2007. The foreclosure tracking company says the national decrease in September was driven primarily by sizable declines in non-judicial foreclosure states such as California, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, and Michigan.

The U.S. government is suing Wells Fargo over what officials allege constitutes more than 10 years of misconduct as a direct endorsement lender for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The civil fraud suit was filed in federal court Tuesday and alleges Wells Fargo falsely certified the credit and underwriting quality of FHA loans it originated. According to the complaint, thousands of Wells Fargo's FHA-insured mortgages defaulted as a result of deficient underwriting, causing the government agency to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.

MortgageKeeper Referral Services announced Tuesday that it will begin working with Family Credit Management to help its counselors connect consumers to vetted community services via MortgageKeeper's MKDesktop product. Family Credit Management is a nonprofit consumer credit and housing counseling agency licensed in over 20 states. It's counselors will now have Web-based access to MortgageKeeper's nationwide database of more than 6,500 nonprofit and government services.

Home equity installment balances rose 0.3 percent in August--the first monthly increase since November 2007, according to Equifax. After plummeting 49 percent over the past four years to just $143 billion, the company contends August's uptick could signal ""a possible turning point in mortgage demand."" Equifax says amid signs the contraction in mortgage debt is slowing and delinquencies are trending down, it looks like positive growth may finally be taking hold in the mortgage market.

Hard-hit markets are aching for stabilization that only occupancy can remedy, Marlene Minemier, director of national portfolio management for Cityside Management Corporation, told colleagues at a recent industry conference. ""It is my belief that the emerging REO rental model is a viable, real-world solution allowing tenancy to be an attractive preservation technique,"" Minemier said as she presented her position during a panel discussion on rentals vs. traditional sales.

Residential mortgage servicer Vericrest Financial, Inc., announced Thursday that it has relocated its Texas Center of Excellence from Dallas to Irving, Texas. Vericrest's Texas center houses the company's corporate functions, as well as asset management, business development, technology, and servicing operations. The company says its plans for future expansion could create potentially hundreds of new jobs.

The real estate software provider eBrokerHouse is making its transaction management and offer submission platform available for free to real estate agents. The free version of eBrokerHouse has all the capabilities to work for the vast majority of agents. High-volume list agents and teams that need more flexibility can easily upgrade to a paid membership and remove the few restrictions of the free account.

The nation's five largest mortgage servicers had 180 days to implement the 320 servicing standards outlined in the settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice and 49 state attorneys general. The standards address such areas as borrower communication, single point of contact, training for loss mitigation staff, and document execution related to foreclosure actions. And as described by the attorneys general's own negotiating committee, to put all the required changes in place involved ""a massive undertaking.""