Government

During a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday, Carol Galante--assistant secretary for HUD and commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)--expressed general approval for the senate's proposed FHA Solvency Act of 2013. However, she did highlight a few concerns. For one, Galante asked the bill authors to consider permitting FHA more authority when it comes to servicing. She also voiced an aversion to the bill's demand for mandatory premium increases when FHA's capital reserve ratio dips below its required level.

While the housing downturn impacted all foreign-born American homeowners, immigrant populations were impacted differently, according to a report from Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group. Using Census Bureau data from 2007 to 2011, Fannie Mae researchers set out to understand how immigrant homeowners were impacted by the housing collapse.

Upon closer examination, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has not helped as many borrowers as it may seem, according to a report from SIGTARP. HAMP, a government loan modification program created to prevent foreclosures, has provided about 1.2 million modifications to distressed borrowers since its inception in 2009. Of those borrowers, 306,538 redefaulted after falling behind on their payments by three months, which means in actuality, 865,100 are still actively in the program, the taxpayer watchdog agency revealed. Of the redefaulters, 22 percent have entered into the foreclosure process.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales welled 8.3 percent in June to 497,000, according to a report from the Census Bureau and HUD. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected June sales to increase to 484,000 from May's originally reported 476,000. The median price of a new home fell 5.0 percent in June to $249,700, the third time the median price has dropped in the last four months. May's median price was revised down to $262,800 from the originally reported $263,900.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a complaint Tuesday against Castle & Cooke Mortgage LLC over allegations that the company gave bonuses to loan officers who steered customers into mortgages with less favorable terms. The complaint, which was filed in federal district court in Utah, claims that under the direction of company president Matthew A. Pineda and Buck L. Hawkins, the SVP of capital markets, Castle & Cooke violated a rule from the Federal Reserve Board that bans compensation based on loan terms.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces a lawsuit that not only challenges its authority to collect personal financial information from attorneys and their paraprofessionals but also deems unconstitutional the agency itself.

In the backdrop of a slow growing economy, Fitch Ratings projects the housing recovery will expand this year and the next-just not at an explosive pace, according to a report. The forecast for 2013 is for existing-home sales to increase 7.5 percent and for new home sales to rise by 22 percent. Meanwhile, single-family starts should grow 18 percent, and multifamily starts should jump 25 percent.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) needs to work on improving its REO disposition strategy so it can bring in higher returns when properties go to sale, according to a recent report from the GAO. In fact, when compared to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the congressional watchdog found FHA disposes its REOs at a much slower pace and sees smaller returns. After examining foreclosure timelines, the GAO revealed the FHA takes about 340 days to dispose of its REOs after foreclosure, which is more than 60 percent longer than the GSEs average of 200 days.

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.

The number of days a property spends in delinquency status prior to foreclosure is relatively similar across all states. However, once a property enters foreclosure, the number of days it spends making its way through the foreclosure process and back to market varies drastically with the key determinant being whether a state is a judicial or nonjudicial state, according to information presented at Distressed Residential Real Estate: Dimensions, Impacts, and Remedies, a conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Rockefeller Institute of Government held in the fall.