The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 24, 2009, which showed that despite high affordability conditions within the marketplace, the number of people applying for a home loan dropped significantly last week.

Sales of single-family homes in Massachusetts during the first quarter dropped nearly 11 percent, according to a market report released Wednesday by the Boston-based research firm The Warren Group. During the first three months of the year, the company said 6,160 homes were sold in the Bay State, down from 6,912 for the same period last year.

The new Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) for loans sold to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to take effect in less than one week, on May 1, 2009. But according to Lansdale, Pennsylvania-based Global DMS, which has provided appraisal management solutions to the mortgage industry for the past 10 years, many lenders are still not prepared to comply.

A protector of creditors’ rights in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, South & Associates, P.C., is increasing their greenness. The firm has been paperless for over three years with the implementation of its advanced imaging system, and is now cutting down its consumption of other raw materials as well.

The U.S. Treasury announced details on Tuesday of new efforts to help bring relief to responsible homeowners under the Making Home Affordable Program. The new program components include an initiative that specifically addresses modifications on second lien mortgages and a set of measures intended to provide assistance to those borrowers who are underwater – meaning the value of their home is less than the outstanding balance owed on their mortgage.

Northbrook, Illinois-based HEART Financial Services, a specialty provider of home retention services for borrowers and loss mitigation for lenders, has announced that Donna M. Krall has accepted the position of EVP of operations with the company.

On Tuesday, RealtyTrac announced a strategic alliance with global real estate portal Enormo that will give Enormo’s international user base of potential homebuyers and investors unique access to RealtyTrac’s database of U.

The spiraling decline in home values for the past too-many-months slowed in February, according to data released by Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday. While the prices of existing single family homes across the United States continued to slide, the downward trend didn’t gain any speed, offering a sliver of promise to the nation’s housing markets.

The U.S. Treasury Department has released the names of four more servicers who have officially signed on to participate in the administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program. Joining the list of participants is Wilshire Credit Corporation, Pittsburgh’s Home Loan Services, Countrywide Home Loans, and Bank of America.

National Association of Realtors (NAR) President Charles McMillan is calling for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to delay the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), which is scheduled to take effect May 1, 2009.