Government

First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell 23,000 to 369,000 for the week ended October 20, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected initial claims to fall to 372,000. The previous week's report was revised upward to 392,000 first-time claims--the highest level since mid-June--from the originally reported 388,000.

Government agencies are seeing an increase in participation within the mortgage servicing space and are seeking to provide better insight into some of the new and growing players in the market, a panel of experts told the audience at a mortgage industry conference in Chicago this week. Dave Williams of Amerisave Mortgage Corp., David Allison with Dovenmuehle Mortgage, and representatives from Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae all shared their thoughts with conference-goers on servicing mortgages for secondary market investors.

Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC and Walter Investment Management Corp. outbid Nationstar Mortgage Holdings and received preliminary approval for the purchase of Residential Capital's mortgage servicing and origination assets. Ocwen's $3 billion was the highest bid for the assets, which went to auction Tuesday. The final sale is contingent on approval in Bankruptcy Court November 19. After being outbid by Ocwen, Nationstar declined to submit a higher offer.

Pointing to slow employment growth and an ""elevated"" unemployment rate, the Federal Open Market Committee said Wednesday the Federal Reserve ""will continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month."" At the same time, the FOMC said it would maintain the target federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and said the ""exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate are likely to be warranted at least through mid-2015.""

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) continued its upward crawl in August, rising 0.7 percent from July, according to a release from the agency. For the 12 months ending in August, home prices in the United States rose 4.7 percent. The August index is down 15.9 percent from its peak in April 2007 and is at roughly the same level as June 2004's index.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced a lawsuit against the bank in a release Wednesday over ""defective"" loans that were sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The lawsuit stems from origination practices from Countrywide, which BofA acquired in 2008. According to the complaint, Countrywide implemented a loan process called the ""Hustle,"" which pushed loans through the origination process by eliminating quality checkpoints. A spokesperson for Bank of America said the bank ""has stepped up and acted responsibly to resolve legacy mortgage matters.""

RBS Financial Products (RBSFP) will pay the state of Nevada $42 million to settle allegations over the firm's role in buying and securitizing subprime and payment option adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced Wednesday.

New home sales jumped 5.7 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted average annualized rate of 389,000, the highest rate since April 2010, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Wednesday. The month-to-month sales improvement was the strongest since February, when sales improved 27,000, or 8.0 percent. While sales numbers improved, both the median and average sales price of a new home dropped month-to-month. Sales were still up 27.1 percent from September 2011, the strongest year-over-year gain since February.

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) filed a federal housing discrimination complaint with HUD against Bank of America, alleging discrimination in how REO properties are marketed and maintained by the bank in three metros: Chicago, Milwaukee and Indianapolis. The most recent complaint is part of an amended complaint previously filed.

The authenticity of this year's recovery may still be in question, but according to Freddie Mac's Economic and Housing Market Outlook for October, the housing sector is showing strength unmatched in previous years. Over the past several years, housing has either hurt or done little to help GDP. ""However, now we're seeing housing resuming its traditional role of leading the recovery charge and once again being the bright spot in the economy,"" said Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist for Freddie Mac.