The United States Senate passed the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014, a bill aimed at protecting millions of homeowners from being hit by huge flood insurance premium hikes. The bill, H.R. 3370, passed with a 72-22 vote in the Senate, after previously being passed in the House of Representatives on March 4.

Collateral Analytics, a provider of comprehensive automated valuation solutions and real estate analytic products for the financial services industry, has launched CA Value Forecast AVM. The new product incorporates the Collateral Analytics proprietary Home Price Forecast Models with its CA Value AVM.

An audit performed by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that mortgage fraud wasn't prioritized as highly as claimed in public statements by the Department of Justice. The audit was released by Michael Horowitz, Inspector General.

The Securities Exchange Commission voted Wednesday to propose new rules to enhance oversight of clearing agencies that are "systemically important" or that are involved in complex transactions, such as security-based swaps.

Single-family homes sales in Connecticut rose 2.0 percent in January, according to a new report from The Warren Group. The month-to-month gain in January marks the ninth consecutive month of home sale increases for the state.

More than 4 million first-time buyers want to enter the market, but they face some tough issues as market conditions aren't exactly favorable to new buyers. This conclusion came from the Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI), a new calculation released by Zillow and Pulsenomics.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that three experts have been named to senior positions within the Bureau. These positions are: the Assistant Director for the Office of Research; the Assistant Director for the Office of Financial Empowerment; and the Assistant Director for the Office of Installment and Liquidity Lending Markets.

As the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) reaches its five-year anniversary, some HAMP loans, including Fannie Mae HAMP loans, will begin to experience an increase in mortgage rates. When loans were modified, they were provided a below-market rate to help struggling homeowners. The rate was good for a set period of time, often five years, which makes HAMP's anniversary bittersweet for some homeowners who will now face rising interest rates.

Foreclosure filings are down to record lows, but a more sinister-sounding problem may be on the rise—"zombie foreclosures." RealtyTrac released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for February, reporting that foreclosure filings (default notices, schedule auctions, and bank repossessions) were 112,498, down 10 percent from January and down 27 percent from the previous year.

A release issued by the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS (MAAR) gave an in-depth look at how the nationwide cold weather this past January and February affected local, cold weather markets. Freezing weather hurt new listings, which declined 5.0 percent. Despite the drop in listings, MAAR is more bullish for the spring and summer months, expecting overall seller activity to increase.