The Department of Labor reported Thursday that advance initial unemployment figures for the week ending July 20 totaled 343,000, an increase of 7,000 over the previous week's revised tally. The four-week moving average for first-time claims was 345,250, a decline of 1,250 from the prior week.

Mortgage rates backed down for the second consecutive week, according to reports from Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com. Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the 30-year fixed-rate average at 4.31 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending July 25, down from last week's 4.37 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.49 percent. The 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.39 percent (0.8 point), down from 3.41 percent last week.

Single-family home sales in Massachusetts rose for the second straight month in June, according to the latest report from the New England-based Warren Group. Year-over-year, home prices also increased statewide for the ninth consecutive month.

A recent survey from United States Appraisals shows appraisers are less confident in the overall state of the housing market than they were at the end of the first quarter. When asked about their current level of confidence in the housing market, 49.6 percent of respondents answered ""mildly or moderately"" strong, while 14.5 percent said ""mildly or moderately weak."" The level of confidence observed in the Q2 survey was slightly below that of the Q1 survey, when 54.5 percent of appraisers indicated a mildly or moderately strong outlook.

After a somewhat slow first quarter, the national housing recovery took the pace up a few notches in Q2, Zillow reported. According to the company's second-quarter Real Estate Market Reports, the U.S. Zillow Home Value Index (HVI) rose to $161,100 as of the end of June--up 2.4 percent quarter-over-quarter and 5.8 percent year-over-year. While home value appreciation accelerated in Q2, it also spread to more areas across the country, reaching markets in the Northeast, Midwest, and Southwest that had previously had trouble keeping pace.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, home prices rose on a monthly basis for the 16th consecutive month in May. The agency's Home Price Index (HPI) reported monthly growth of 0.7 percent. On a yearly basis, the national HPI was up 7.3 percent. As of May, the index was 11.2 percent below its April 2007 peak and was roughly level with January 2005's value.

The American Land Title Association (ALTA) recognized three land title experts with National Title Professional (NTP) designations Monday.

UBS announced Monday it has reached an agreement in principle with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to settle claims related to soured residential mortgage-backed securities.

Gateway Mortgage has selected Fiserv's LoanServ platform to handle its mortgage servicing technology needs, Fiserv announced. lending solutions at Fiserv.

With July approaching its last week, economists at Fannie Mae are maintaining their forecast for greater economic growth in the second half of 2013. In its latest Economic and Housing Outlook, Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group points to steady year-to-date job creation, high consumer confidence, and positive housing data as proof the economy is on a positive, though modest, growth path.