Foreclosure

CoreLogic, a leading residential property information, analytics, and services provider headquartered in California, announced its acquisition of Case-Shiller from Fiserv, Inc. The acquisition closed March 20.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance dropped for only the second time in the last six weeks, falling 16,000 to 339,000 for the week ending April 20, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The report offered final numbers for the week ending April 13, the same week used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for its monthly Employment Situation report to be released May 3.

The broadening housing recovery has firmed up home prices around the country, with the potential to restore many underwater mortgages to a position of positive equity, according to Fannie Mae's economic and strategic research group. Citing data from CoreLogic, the GSE notes that 1.7 million properties moved from negative to positive equity last year. Provided the home price gains seen so far this year continue, Fannie's economic analysts anticipate another 1.8 million properties will rise out of their underwater positions by the end of 2013.

Even the usually ""unmoved"" appraiser community is starting to show confidence in today's housing climate, according to the results of a recently conducted industry survey released Wednesday. The data show nearly 55 percent of appraisers polled have ""mildly or moderately strong"" confidence in the housing market, while 25 percent were neutral. Experts say the group is a ""good gauge"" of housing conditions because they tend to be realistic, focused on their local markets, and unswayed by news stories or national numbers.

Over the past couple years, rentals of single-family homes have served as a growing segment of the housing market. However, lately limited supply and rising home prices are leading to rising rents, thus slowing growth in this market, according to a report from CoreLogic. Having been on the decline since 2009, single-family rental properties now have about a 2.9-month supply available on the market. For comparison, anything below six months supply in the purchase market is considered low. The result of tight supply, naturally, is rising prices.

Starting July 1, large numbers of non-paying borrowers will have the opportunity to modify existing mortgages through a more streamlined process. This sounds like a good way to reduce foreclosures and prop up home prices, but as we will shortly see the proposed program is oddly risky and likely to encourage additional defaults. The program is open to borrowers who have already modified their loans once, perhaps a few years ago when rates were higher. This, at least, is a good idea. So what's the big difference between the new program and the modifications offered previously?

The total number of outstanding mortgages in the nation fell below the 5 million mark for the first time since 2008, according to data from Lender Processing Services. In March, non-current loans totaled 4,997,000, down from 5,104,000 in February. The figure for non-current loans includes 3,308,000 million properties past due 30 days or more but not in foreclosure, as well as 1,689,000 properties sitting in foreclosure inventory.

Illinois experienced an increase in home sales and median prices over year ago levels in March, the Illinois Association of REALTORS reported. Home sales last month totaled 10,992, up 13.6 percent from March 2012 when sales were at 9,679. At the same time, median prices in the state showed a 3.6 percent improvement from last year, the association reported.

MortgageDocs, a national notary signing services company based in California, has named Christian Redmond as its new CEO. Prior to his appointment at MortgageDocs, Redmond was VP of business development at the Walz Group, a case management and document fulfillment firm that handles critical communications between the mortgage servicing community and borrowers such as default and foreclosure notifications as well as loss mitigation packages.

Grant funds secured through the national mortgage settlement will be used to provide a wide range of assistance to California homeowners impacted by the state's foreclosure crisis. California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced 21 organizations were awarded funds through a $9.4 million grant.