Headlines

April sales of Massachusetts single-family homes dropped 2.3 percent compared with the same month last year, according to the latest from the Warren Group. The percentage decline represents a decrease from 3,508 last year to 3,427 in April.

In its second annual survey of housing attitudes, the MacArthur Foundation found 51 percent of American consumers still believe the country is in the midst of its housing crisis, while another 19 percent believe the worst is yet to come. Only 25 percent said they believe "the housing crisis is pretty much over."

In its latest Home Price Index, CoreLogic reported that home prices continue to rise across the nation, with more increases to come in 2015. The company reported that home prices increased 10.5 percent in April from the previous year, including distressed sales. The company projects home prices will continue to increase by 1.0 percent month-over-month in May.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has sued the Federal Housing Finance Agency and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, alleging the companies' refusal to engage in foreclosure buyback programs is "unfairly and illegally causing Massachusetts families to lose their homes."

VRM Mortgage Services announced that it has listed, managed, and sold over 500,000 REO properties since the company was founded eight years ago. According to company officials, the volume is more than any other asset management company over the same period, and stems from the company’s emphasis on supporting local communities and preserving property values.

Fannie Mae's book of business shrank again in April, continuing an uninterrupted streak of declines that started at the end of 2013. According to the enterprise's volume summary report, the book's total value contracted in April at a compound negative growth rate of 2.7 percent. The latest drop brings the book's average year-to-date growth rate to -2.3 percent.

RealtyStore, a provider of a broad variety of real estate listings, recently released a report outlining average selling prices for bank foreclosures. The company found the median price of bank foreclosures for sale in six select states list at an average of nearly 50 percent below recent median existing-home sale prices.

Foreclosures continue to be a national problem, and one metro's City Attorney thinks a large chunk of the problem came from discrimination. Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer is suing one of the nation's largest banks, JPMorgan Chase, alleging the bank engaged in discriminatory lending.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced the latest victory in its ongoing effort to protect taxpayers by combating fraud, waste, and abuse connected with the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Michael Edward Filmore of Chesterfield, Missouri was sentenced to four years in federal prison and ordered to pay $6.5 million in restitution for defrauding Pulaski Bank.

The FDIC announced the closure of another bank, noting that Slavie Federal Savings Bank of Bel Air, Maryland has been closed. The FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Bay Bank, FSB of Lutherville, Maryland to assume all the deposits of the recently shuttered Slavie Federal Savings Bank.