Government

Senators Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) are sponsoring a bill to expand protections for military members in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden is also supporting the bill, known as the Servicemember Housing Protection Act (S. 3179), which has been has been referred to the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

The Texas Taxpayers and Research Association: (TTARA) released a report analyzing the findings of performance audits in Texas' 253 central appraisal districts (CAD). The report, titled ""Equal and Uniform...sort of,"" compiles the results of reviews of local appraisal districts performed by the Property Tax Assistance Division (PTAD), housed at the State Comptroller's Office. The purpose of the evaluation was to see if appraisal districts in the state have the necessary tools to appraise property at its fair market value.

New homes sales rose 3.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000, the Commerce Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported jointly Wednesday (May 23). Sales for March were revised upward from 328,000 to 332,000. Sales for March were revised upward from 328,000 to 332,000. Economists had expected the report to show a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 335,000 for new home sales in April. New home sales in April were up 9.9 percent from April 2011, the seventh straight month of year-over-year increases.

The FDIC reportedly filed suit Friday against a number of large bank holding companies, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and JPMorgan Chase. Reuters reported that the FDIC seeks to recoup some $92 million for two banks that failed in 2009. Speaking with MReport, FDIC spokesperson David Barr declined to comment on the story. For the full details visit our sister publication at theMReport.com.

Through the $25 billion robo-signing settlement between federal and state officials and the five largest banks - Bank of America, Citi, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Ally - $10 billion was set aside for principal reductions. According Fitch Ratings, the funds set aside for writing down principal will have little impact on private label residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Fitch stated that the private label result of principal reduction through the settlement will likely reach only 10 percent of underwater borrowers. Overall, Fitch estimates there is about $203 billion in negative equity for private-label RMBS.

When it comes to handling foreclosure inventory, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (C.A.R.) has made it clear it does not see the need for government intervention in its state. The association recently announced its support for California Congressmen Gary Miller (R-Brea) and seven California lawmakers for introducing legislation that calls for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to halt its plan to sell Fannie Mae REO properties to institutional investors through bulk sales in California.

While the housing market is starting to show signs that it is strengthening, for some states, recovery still seems to be in the very distant future. According to a report from Capital Economics, one factor that will determine the speed of recovery for individual states is the type of foreclosure procedure. Paul Diggle, author of the report, said that many of the judicial states, which are struggling to clear their backlog of foreclosures, will lag behind during recovery. However, Rob Pitingolo, research assistant with the Urban Institute, noted that it's not the judicial process itself that is the problem, but a lack of resources.

MGIC Investment Corporation announced Thursday that its Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation subsidiary filed a lawsuit against Freddie Mac and its conservator, FHFA. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the dispute is in regards to a disagreement over aggregate loss limit under certain pool insurance policies.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has removed Allonhill from the Independent Foreclosure Review due to concerns about third parties.

First time claims were unchanged at 370,000 for the week ended May 12 after the number of initial claims filed for the previous week was revised upward, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists had expected initial claims would decrease to 365,000. The Labor Department had initially reported 367,000 claims filed for the week ended May 5. The revision turned that report to an increase of 2,000 from a previously reported decline of 1,000. Continuing claims - reported on a one week lag - increased 18,000 to 3,265,000 after the preceding week's report was bumped up to 3,247,000 from an originally reported 3,269,000, coincidentally another 18,000 increase from the original report.