Foreclosure prevention actions on loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined during the first three months of this year, driven primarily by loan modifications. Permanent loan mods dropped for the third consecutive quarter to 86,201. Short sales were essentially flat at 25,705. According to the GSEs' regulator, even with the drop-off in loss mitigation actions the two companies' delinquency rates ""remain below industry levels."" In the first quarter, foreclosure starts declined while completed foreclosures increased.

Goldman Sachs has agreed to sell its residential mortgage servicing subsidiary to Ocwen Financial Corp. Ocwen will pay $263.7 million in cash to acquire Litton Loan Servicing. In addition to the cash purchase price, Ocwen will lay out another $337 million to take care of some of Litton's outstanding debt. The deal will result in Ocwen's acquisition of a servicing portfolio of approximately $41.2 billion in unpaid principal balance of primarily non-prime residential mortgage loans.

Fannie Mae laid out new standards for mortgage servicers Monday related to the management of delinquent loans. The move is part of the Servicing Alignment Initiative announced by the company's regulator in late April to bring both Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's procedures for handling past-due mortgages in line with one another. The new rules are intended to address identified servicing issues such as the commencement of foreclosure actions while loss mitigation talks are ongoing and breakdowns in borrower communication.

Atlantic Bank and Trust in Charleston, South Carolina, was closed Friday by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), bringing the count of FDIC-insured bank failures to 45 for the year. The FDIC brokered a deal with First Citizens Bank and Trust Company to assume the failed lender's deposits and purchase all of its assets.

HUD says foreclosures will have to be re-filed on some of its REO homes due to a Michigan court ruling. In April, the Michigan Court of Appeals issued a judgment stating that MERS does not meet the requirements under state statute to act as the foreclosing agent in non-judicial proceedings. HUD says most of the major title insurers in Michigan have ceased issuing title insurance for any repossessed properties involving MERS and a non-judicial foreclosure. The agency is directing mortgagees to re-foreclosure on any affected homes to cure the title defect.

Provided they live on in their current form, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will need another $42 billion from taxpayers over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The agency says subsidies related to the GSEs' new business have fallen but they'll continue to need funding as long as their mortgage guarantees are priced below private institutions. CBO says the government faces two choices: either retain the GSEs' portfolios until the mortgages are paid off, or pay a private entity to assume the guarantee obligations.

The rate at which distressed loans held in U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) are being transferred to special servicers continues to decline, according to Fitch Ratings. The agency reports that approximately $85.7 billion in loans were being worked out by special servicers as of the first quarter of 2011. Specially serviced CMBS loans reached a peak in the second quarter of 2010 at $91.2 billion. But Fitch has noticed a declining trend ever since and the agency expects it to continue.

Radar Logic says strong job gains will not bolster housing despite opinions from economic experts. The firm predicts a recovery in housing values will precede a recovery in the economy, spending, and jobs. Economists say the sliding job market, along with falling consumer confidence and other weak indicators mean the economic recovery has hit a ""soft patch."" There is a strong correlation, Radar Logic explains, between Americans' perceptions of their own wealth as expressed in the value of their homes and their willingness to recycle some of that wealth into the economy.

Urban Lending Solutions Appraisals LLC (ULSA), a subsidiary of loss-mitigation service provider Urban Lending Solutions, announced that it has hired Jim Beatty as its new SVP of valuation services. In addition to overseeing the operations for ULSA, Beatty will be heading the client-facing team responsible for building solutions, product integration, and maintaining relationships.

The national unemployment rate edged up to 9.1 percent in May from 9.0 percent in April, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Department of Labor. The economy added just 54,000 jobs in May, the weakest showing in eight months. Employment increases averaged 220,000 over the prior three months. Freddie Mac's chief economist Frank Nothaft says the economy needs to add over 250,000 new jobs per month, on a sustained basis, to reabsorb all the jobs lost since the recession.