Daily Dose

About 1.5 percent of all homes with a mortgage in the United States were in some state of foreclosure in November 2014, the lowest foreclosure rate since March 2008, according to CoreLogic's November 2014 National Foreclosure Report. Foreclosure inventory, which includes homes in any state of foreclosure, plummeted year-over-year in November, falling from 880,000 in November 2013 to 567,000 in November 2014 – a decline of 35.5 percent. November represented the 37th consecutive month in which foreclosure inventory declined year-over-year and the 26th straight month in which the nation's foreclosure inventory saw a double-digit percentage decline.

NAFCU's complaint stems from a provision of the proposed rule that would require FHLB members and applicants to keep 1 percent of assets in home mortgage loans. Current members would also be required to hold at least 10 percent of assets in residential mortgage loans on an ongoing basis as opposed to just at the time of application, as the current rule requires.

New York-based credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's is close to a $1 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the misrepresentation of mortgage-backed securities to investors in the years leading up to the financial crisis in 2008, according to multiple media reports.

Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Julián Castro told the audience at the National Press Club Tuesday afternoon that it was time for the nation to "remove the stigma" promoting homeownership. During his hour-long speech at the Press Club in Washington, D.C., which included a question and answer session, Castro spoke of the economic progress the nation made in 2014, such as experiencing the fastest job growth rate in 15 years, and he addressed HUD's initiatives which are aimed at promoting, increasing, and expanding opportunities for Americans to own a home.

Losing California would be a big blow to Ocwen, which serviced more than 378,000 home loans in the state valued at $95 billion unpaid principal balance as of Q3 2014, according to MarketWatch. Shares for the company plummeted in early trading Tuesday, falling off by more than 33 percent before ticking back up slightly. With the latest news, Ocwen is off to a less than promising start to 2015 after concluding what was a rocky 2014

Keeping in line with Republicans' promises of more scrutiny of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), U.S. Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has written a letter urging the CFPB to abandon plans to renovate its office building in favor of more cost-effective alternatives. Hensarling addressed the letter, dated January 12, 2015, to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry, and U.S. General Services Administrator Daniel Tangherlini.

Investment banker Antonio Weiss, President Barack Obama's nominee for the position of U.S. Treasury Undersecretary, has withdrawn himself from consideration for the position, according to multiple media reports.

Consumers' median earnings growth expectations were 2.5 percent for the year ahead in December, the New York Fed revealed. While that marks a step back from November's reading of 2.7 percent, it's still the second-highest reading since the start of that measure in July 2013.

Loan modifications facilitated through the government's Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP) have historically re-defaulted at a lower rate than proprietary loan modifications, but HAMP mods facilitated in 2014 began re-defaulting at a higher rate than those modified in the two previous years, according to Black Knight Financial Services' November 2014 Mortgage Monitor released on Monday.

In a report released Monday morning, Fitch outlined five big events—all of which have taken place in the past few months—that, taken together, "could have a relatively meaningful impact on home buyer psychology, pent-up demand and housing trends in 2015 and beyond," the company says.