Daily Dose

The majority of mortgage industry professionals said they believed that the lowering of the down payment to 3 percent for first-time homebuyers by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a step in the right direction for the housing market, according to the Collingwood Group's November 2014 Mortgage Industry Outlook Report released earlier this week.

The highest foreclosure rate of any state once again belonged to Florida in November after being displaced by Maryland in October, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for November 2014 released Thursday.

The number of residential foreclosure filings in the U.S. declined by 9 percent from October to November despite a yearly spike in the number of foreclosure starts (scheduled auctions), according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for November 2014 released Thursday.

An amended Ohio House bill that was originally intended to reduce the lengthy residential foreclosure process and eliminate blight in Ohio neighborhoods died in the Ohio Senate Finance Committee Tuesday night, sources close to the situation told DS News.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently changed its policy regarding buyback of REO properties through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley thinks the agency could do more.

The nation's mortgage loan delinquency rate is expected to fall down to 2.51 percent by the end of 2015, its lowest level since prior to the housing bust, according to data released by TransUnion on Wednesday.

An Ohio House bill that would have expedited the residential foreclosure and transfer process and taken steps toward eliminating blight and vandalism in foreclosed, vacated properties has been amended and was introduced in the Ohio State Senate Finance Committee Tuesday, a source close to one of the bill's sponsors told DS News.

In her outlook, IHS economist Stephanie Karol focuses on two major trends that have shaped the housing market in 2014: low household formation and diverging trends for new versus existing-homes.

Despite persistent concerns about risk and regulatory compliance, the majority of mortgage professionals agree that business conditions today are better now than they were a year ago.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced on Tuesday a moratorium on evictions for single-family foreclosed homes for the holiday season.