Existing-home sales in July rose to their highest level in five months, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) today. The NAR checked the seemingly good news by noting though that overall sales have hovered in a relatively narrow range for the past 11 months.

Overstock.com, Inc. announced the addition of auction sales to its real estate platform this week, and said it has joined with real estate auction company Williams & Williams as its online auction source provider.

The Federal Housing Administration has announced several changes to its loss mitigation program that the agency says will strengthen both its loan modification and partial claim initiatives. The changes, which are effective immediately, address borrowers who are facing severe defaults, and are designed to give mortgagees additional latitude to help borrowers cure defaults and retain homeownership.

The Pennsylvania Department of Banking announced this week that it has rescinded the mortgage licenses of NorthStar Mortgage LLC because of alleged fraud committed by the company’s employees. Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Banking Steve Kaplan said the action against NorthStar Mortgage, which has central offices in Northampton and Chester counties, means the mortgage broker can no longer do business in Pennsylvania.

ComplianceEase announced the initial release of two new automated mortgage compliance solutions at the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators (AARMR) Annual Regulatory Conference in Minneapolis this week.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced this week that it will raise ceilings on its no-down payment home loans, from the current $417,000 to as much as $729,000, in certain locations. The increases are effective immediately under legislation recently enacted by President Bush’s signing of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced yesterday that IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB will implement a new program to systematically modify the bank’s troubled mortgages. Federal regulators hope this effort will serve as a model to other industry players for assisting growing numbers of distressed homeowners.

Freddie Mac released the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) today, which showed long-term rates dipped slightly from figures reported last week. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.

Homes became more affordable across the country for the third consecutive quarter, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index released this week.

Fannie Mae announced this week that it will no longer purchase or securitize any mortgage loan from the state of New York that meets the definition of a subprime home loan under New York law, regardless of whether any provision of the law is preempted by federal law with respect to a particular mortgage or for a particular originator.