Daily Dose

The possibility of a high return on investment has given institutional investors the opportunity and motivation to cash out, leaving many to wonder about the future of the single-family rental industry and how it would be affected in areas with a high concentration of single-family homes purchased as rentals, should investors sell off in large quantities.

Freddie Mac predicted that 2015 will see the highest level of home sales in the U.S. since 2007 in its December 2014 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook released on Tuesday.

The upcoming year is expected to bring continuing improvements in the market for residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), according to one forecast.

JPMorgan Chase reported that it has provided more than half of the consumer relief required in just one year as part of a settlement with the government last year, according to a report released Tuesday. The internal review group for the New York-based megabank asserted in the third Chase Consumer Relief Update, compiled by Monitor Joseph A. Smith, Jr., that Chase has earned $2.2 billion in consumer relief credit from the period of October 1, 2013, to September 30, 2014.

Last week, TransUnion predicted that the steadily declining number of mortgage loan delinquencies in the U.S. would fall to below pre-recession levels by the end of 2015. This week, Equifax released data that seems to go right along with that forecast.

As Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to generate profits in a recovering housing market, a group of community lenders has joined the chorus of advocates calling for the government to revisit the terms of its bailout agreement with the two mortgage giants.

A steep decline in foreclosure filings in Missouri has dropped the Show Me State from the middle of the pack down to having one of the lowest foreclosure rates among states in November, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for November 2014 released late last week.

The U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives have both unanimously voted to pass a bill that give military servicemembers who have recently returned from duty added protection from foreclosure, according to an announcement from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), who introduced the bill in May.

A Florida man has been sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for a fraud scheme perpetrated against businesses and individuals seeking lines of credit, according to an announcement from Christy Romero, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP).

Consumer sentiment gained another five points in an early December measure, putting confidence levels at a near eight-year high.