Headlines

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced that four men—Sean Cutting, Brian Melland, Bijan Madjlessi, David Lonich—have been indicted on federal charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, false statements to a bank, false bank entries, and obstruction of justice.

Delinquency rates on recently issued U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) remain nearly zero after the first post-crisis transaction was completed, according to a new report issued by Fitch Ratings.

Two quarterly earnings reports revealed very different results for two major players in the mortgage industry. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase both felt the sting of a shrinking mortgage market, but one bank revealed substantial growth. Wells Fargo reported a record net income of $5.9 billion for the first quarter, an increase of 14 percent from the year-ago quarter and 5 percent from Q4 2013.

After a long, dreary winter, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) pointed towards signs of renewed optimism in the 13-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Seller activity rose 5.5 percent to roughly 6,500 newly listed homes in March. Although inventory remains near a 10-year low, the group believes consumers should have more options this year compared to recent years.

As the housing market inches further toward recovery, a curious dichotomy has arisen between urban and suburban growth. Asking prices for homes in densely populated (i.e., high-rise-rich) and urban settings are still rising as the spring buying market catches its stride. It’s the suburbs, however, where population is growing most.

A release issued Thursday by the Federal Deposit Insurance (FDIC) urged financial institutions to "actively utilize available resources to identify and help mitigate potential cyber-related risks." The timing of the release is particularly germane, considering the recently discovered Heartbleed bug which affects almost two-thirds of the web, as well as recent cyber-attacks on industry giant Ellie Mae.

According to a new report from the Warren Group, single-family home sales are up 2.6 percent overall this year in Connecticut, with a 2.8 percent increase in February of this year from last year. Fighting a low inventory this month, the month represents ten straight months of increases in a row, easing fears.

Good news for homebuyers—Freddie Mac reported the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaging a rate of 4.34 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending April 10, a decline from 4.41 percent last week. A year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed was down nearly a full percentage point: 3.43 percent.

Associa, North America's largest community management services firm, announced the hiring of Billy Rudolph as director of corporate communication. Rudolph will work along-side the Director of Events & Corporate Citizenship, Rachel Bedford and the Manager of Government Affairs, Kristen Doe.

A lawsuit filed by European bank LBBW Luxemburg S.A. over an alleged $1.5 billion subprime mortgage-backed securities (MBS) fraud scheme was upheld by a federal judge, who denied the bank’s motions to dismiss. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken let stand charges of fraud, breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, and constructive fraud against Wells Fargo Securities LLC and Fortis Securities LLC.