The vast majority of homeowners who refinanced in Q3 2012 either maintained or slashed their loan debt, according to a release from Freddie Mac. In the year's third quarter, 83 percent of homeowners who refinanced their first-lien home mortgage either kept the same loan amount or lowered their principal balance by paying-in additional money at the closing table, the GSE revealed. Of those borrowers, 54 percent maintained about the same loan amount, while 29 percent reduced their principal balance.

The number of housing markets across the country showing lasting improvement expanded by leaps and bounds in November, according to a report from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The Improving Markets Index (IMI), put together monthly by NAHB and First American, showed 125 markets demonstrating consistent improvement, up from the previous record high of 103 in October.

Zillow, Inc., a major real estate information provider, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mortech, Inc., a mortgage technology company. According to a release, Zillow will give $12 million in cash and 150,000 shares of restricted stock in the deal.

The delinquency rate on U.S. commercial real estate loans saw its biggest drop in more than a year in October, according to Trepp, LLC. The analytics provider released its October 2012 U.S. CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities) Delinquency Report, revealing that the delinquency rate for commercial real estate loans in CMBS fell 30 basis points to 9.69 percent. The drop was the biggest one recorded in 14 months and marks the third straight month in which overall delinquency has improved.

A turnaround in housing helped drive Freddie Mac to a $2.9 billion profit in the third quarter, the GSE reported. Freddie Mac's net earnings dipped slightly under the $3.0 billion reported for Q2, but it helped keep the company from making any additional Treasury draws. In addition, Freddie's comprehensive income of $5.6 billion in Q3 allowed it to pay a $1.8 billion dividend on senior preferred stock.

Goldman Sachs is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss a mortgage securities class action lawsuit that the company says could cost Wall Street tens of billions of dollars, according to a report from Reuters. The bank is facing a suit from the NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund, which owned mortgage-backed certificates underwritten by Goldman. The fund is suing on behalf of investors who say they were misled about the securities' risk, Reuters reports. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York decided in September to allow the lawsuit to go ahead on the basis that the NECA-IBEW is acting for investors whose claims ""implicate the same set of concerns"" as its own.

The country's largest life insurance provider announced it is selling its mortgage servicing portfolio to one of the country's biggest mortgage servicers. MetLife, Inc., announced an agreement to sell MetLife Bank, N.A.'s mortgage servicing portfolio to JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but MetLife revealed in a statement the portfolio is worth approximately $70 billion. As a result of the purchase, Chase's $1.1 trillion servicing business is expected to grow by more than 5 percent.

The U.S. government is violating the terms of the national mortgage settlement with its recently filed lawsuit against Wells Fargo, attorneys for the bank argue. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York filed suit against Wells Fargo in early October ""more than 10 years of misconduct"" in connection with the bank's participation in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Direct Endorsement Lender Program.

A survey of senior loan officers released by the Federal Reserve shows lending standards were mostly unchanged, but demand for residential real estate loans was strengthened. The October survey asked 68 domestic banks and 23 U.S. branches of foreign institutions about the lending standards and loan demand they've dealt with over the past three months. When asked about credit standards for prime mortgages, 59 out of 64 respondents said standards were largely the same. While 34 banks said demand for prime purchase mortgages was about the same, 21 reported ""moderately stronger"" demand, and four said demand was ""substantially stronger"" since July.

A Texas judge granted a motion to dismiss a case filed against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS), and its co-defendants over county recording clerk filing fees. The dismissal was MERS' second victory of the week in Texas. One day earlier, MERSCORP announced that the Supreme Court of Texas denied a borrower's petition for review.