Corelogic reported on Tuesday that 47,000 foreclosures had been completed in May, a year-over-year decrease of 9.4 percent from May of 2013. As of May, about 660,000 homes, 1.7 percent of all homes with a mortgage, in the United States were in some stage in the foreclosure process. While still large number, it represents a 37 percent decrease from May of 2013 when the foreclosure inventory topped one million homes.

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services announced late Monday that it would hold a hearing on proposed legislation aimed at reforming the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve Board published a report Monday defending and showing the progress of the Independent Foreclosure Review and subsequent Payment Agreement between the board and 15 large mortgage servicers. Between April 2011 and April 2012, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve issued enforcement actions against 16 mortgage loan servicers for inadequate foreclosure and mortgage loan servicing practices.

Consumers believe that their outlook is getting better. But they are not necessarily ready to participate in the housing market just yet. The June Housing Survey released by Fannie Mae shows that consumer sentiment toward the housing market is continuing to improve as the overall economic outlook improves but it still sits well below the level necessary for the market to normalize.

Popular, Inc., Puerto Rico’s largest bank began its exit from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) as the Department of the Treasury announced that it had accepted final repayment of $946 million.

In a filing with the SEC, Suntrust Banks, Inc. announced Thursday afternoon that it would pay up to $320 million to halt a criminal investigation into whether it had dealt inappropriately with homeowners who were looking to take advantage of the Home Affordable Modification Program. Several government agencies had been investigating SunTrust in connection with complaints that it misled homeowners who sought mortgage relief from SunTrust through HAMP and failed to timely process HAMP applications.

Freddie Mac announced a move Wednesday aimed at reducing the risk to the taxpayer associated with its credit exposure in the residential mortgage market. The Enterprise has obtained a number of insurance policies underwritten by a panel of “well capitalized insurers and reinsurers”.

Foreclosure starts rose for the first time in eight months in May but there is still reason to be optimistic about the United States housing market according to the latest Mortgage Monitor Report of the latest available data released by Black Knight Financial Services. The report indicated that foreclosure starts nationwide rose by 9.5 percent.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Nationstar, a large mortgage processor with millions of mortgages in its portfolio, was temporarily suspended from buying the rights to home loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because of concerns that the servicer was under capitalized.

Employment in the private sector rose in June at the highest rate in nearly two years, according to the ADP National Employment Report issued Wednesday for the month of June. By ADP's calculation, private sector employment rose by 281,000 new jobs created, surpassing most already optimistic projections.