RealtyTrac on Wednesday that cities in California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona accounted for the first quarter’s 26 highest foreclosure rates among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more.

Freddie Mac released the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) on Thursday. For the week ending April 23, 2009, Freddie’s study shows that long-term interest rates are now lower than those for short-term mortgage products.

The House Financial Services Committee held its final hearing Thursday on mortgage reform. The committee plans to vote on the bill next week and send it to the full House for approval soon after. Committee leaders say the legislation is needed to prevent those practices that led to the nation’s mortgage meltdown and financial crisis from being repeated.

Fannie Mae’s newly appointed president and CEO Michael J. Williams recruited three former bank executives to fill key management positions this week. To round out the company’s leadership team, Williams has hired Timothy J.

Cambridge Realty Capital Companies says it processed 19.5 percent fewer loan requests during the first quarter of 2009 than it did for the same period last year. The Chicago-based firm is a real estate investment banker for senior housing owners, lenders, and investors, with three distinct business units: Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured HUD loans, conventional financing, and investments and acquisitions.

The city of Detroit has implemented a new vacant property procedure that allows city inspectors to board up vacant, foreclosed homes at the cost of the property owner. The city says the ordinance is intended to secure and protect vacant properties for the safety of the community.

First American Title Insurance Company announced this week that John D. Markunas has joined the company as VP of international business development. In this new position, Markunas will be responsible for business development in Latin America and will concentrate on opening the title insurance market in Brazil.

According to new research by Standard & Poor’s released this week, $250 billion of securitized mortgages are presently in bankruptcy, foreclosure, or REO, and the company says the performance of private-label securities – those that banks keep on their books – are expected to decline even further.

A report released on Tuesday by the Special Inspector General’s Office for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is calling for greater oversight of the administration’s financial rescue efforts.

Freddie Mac’s acting CFO David Kellermann, 41, was found dead in his Vienna, Virginia home early Wednesday morning. According to Washington, D.C. television station WUSA, Kellermann’s wife told local police he committed suicide.