Daily Dose

Leading indicators for the housing sector have shown that despite the moderate economic growth predicted, housing may experience a strong season in the spring, according to Fannie Mae. In March, existing home sales rose to their highest level in nearly two years, but for Q1 existing home sales were off slightly from the previous quarter's total. Despite a slowdown in March, new single-family home sales ended the first quarter at their strongest pace in seven years.

The new requirements are expected to allow the GSEs to operate smoothly by providing greater transparency, clarity and consistency to industry participants and other stakeholders, and reflect feedback received over the past several months.

Completed foreclosure sales totaled approximately 96,000 for Q1 2015, down from 126,000 in the same quarter a year earlier, according to HOPE NOW – a decline of approximately 24 percent. Foreclosure starts jumped by 3 percent year-over-year in Q1 (from 219,000 up to 225,000) and about 10 percent quarter-over-quarter (from 205,000 up to 225,000).

Four Democratic U.S. Senators, Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Jeff Merkley (Oregon), Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), and Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin), have introduced an amendment aimed at preventing future administrations from weakening financial regulations, according to an announcement on Warren's website.

Perdue said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Accountability Act of 2015 will provide critical Congressional oversight for a Bureau that is funded by the Federal Reserve but is led by a single director rather than a board of directors and is not accountable to Congress.

Stegman, who has been with Treasury for four years, will be the main housing adviser for the Obama Administration in his new position with the NEC. He will be replacing Seth Wheeler, who is planning to leave the NEC in June after two years.

The severe delinquency rate on home equity installment loans fell from 2.59 percent in Q1 2014 to 1.98 percent in Q1 2015, while balances declined by 16.4 percent year-over-year in Q1 down to $136.1 billion and accounts declined by 10.6 percent down to 4.5 million for the same period.

Black Knight debuted the IPO at the NYSE Wednesday morning at $24.50 per share, a total of $441 million, according to a press release from the company on Tuesday. By the time trading closed at 4 p.m. eastern time Wednesday, the price of the stocks had increased by more than 10 percent up to $27.11 per share, according to the NYSE website.

The latest note offering in the CAS series (Series 2015-C02) is scheduled to settle on May 27 and is consistent with prior transactions. This transaction includes reference loans with original LTVs up to 97 percent, according to Fannie Mae.

Topics of discussions included whether short sales are still relevant, whether or not to sell occupied properties, claims without certificate of title, resolving the "hold bucket," determining the right disposition strategy for the property, the impact of prolonged sales cycles on the community, what to evaluate when considering a property repair, and what can be done to expedite the foreclosure process on vacant and abandoned properties.