Market Studies

After posting a 75-month low in April, foreclosure filings increased 2 percent in May, according to RealtyTrac. The rise was primarily driven by an 11 percent increase in REOs over the month. However, REOs demonstrated a 29 percent decline year-over-year in May, while foreclosure filings fell 28 percent over the same time period. ""Foreclosure activity continued to bounce back in some markets where it may have appeared the foreclosure problem had been knocked out by an aggressive combination of foreclosure prevention efforts over the past two years,"" said Daren Blomquist, VP at RealtyTrac.

First time claims for unemployment insurance fell to 334,000, for week ended June 8, the lowest level in a month dropping 12,000 after increasing 13,000 one week earlier the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected initial claims to increase to 350,000 from the prior week.

After reviewing more than 650,000 online mortgage applications sent to more than 1,100 lenders last year, Mortgage Marvel found only 15 percent of applications were submitted on weekends. A majority of those submitted on weekdays--60 percent--were submitted between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., prompting Mortgage Marvel to assume many applicants are applying while at work.

Refinance volume under the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) stayed strong in March even as mortgage rates rose, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported Wednesday. In March, the GSEs refinanced close to 100,000 loans through HARP, bringing the program total since the 2009 inception to nearly 2.4 million, according to the FHFA. The program continued to provide relief to underwater borrowers, who accounted for nearly half of all HARP refinances in Q1.

When seeking a new home, minorities face subtle discrimination that could increase costs or prolong their home search, according to a report released Tuesday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). While HUD's report reveals a downward trend in ""the most blatant forms of discrimination,"" such as refusing to meet with minority buyers, HUD found less obvious forms of discrimination persist. Among the types of discrimination studied, ""[m]ost important, minority homeseekers are told about and shown fewer homes and apartments than whites,"" HUD said.

Significant improvements in home values helped lift 850,000 borrowers out of negative equity in the first quarter, CoreLogic reported. Overall, 9.7 million borrowers, or 19.8 percent of all residential mortgages, were underwater in the first quarter of 2013, down from 10.5 million, or 21.7 percent of all mortgages, in the previous quarter, according to the data provider's estimate. The state with the highest share of upside down borrowers was Nevada, where 45.4 percent of residential mortgages are underwater.

While perhaps not completely out of the woods yet, residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) are on the mend with some improved performance of late, according to Fitch Ratings. An ""improving U.S. housing market and stable macro environment"" are boosting performance, leading Fitch to upgrade about 480 RMBS bonds so far this year and harbor a ""Positive Outlook"" on about 800 RMBS bonds. Looking ahead, the agency does not anticipate widespread upgrades in the year to come.

Americans are experiencing significantly fewer financial troubles than they were a month ago, according to the latest index from Consumer Reports. The Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index, which measures the proportion of consumers that have faced financial difficulties and the number of events they've encountered, fell sharply from 41.7 in the last report to 34.0--the lowest level since the measure was created.

There's a mortgage debt ""overhang"" that threatens the health of the national economy, and one possible solution to the problem comes in the form of eminent domain, according to a new report authored by Robert Hockett. Of the roughly 11 million underwater mortgages, about 3 or 4 million are in default, foreclosure, or foreclosed and awaiting liquidation, the report, Paying Paul and Robbing No One: An Eminent Domain Solution for Underwater Mortgage Debt, found.

The number of job openings fell in April for the fourth time in the last five months as the number of people leaving their jobs jumped to the highest level since August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Tuesday. The number of persons unemployed for each job opening rose to 3.10, the first increase in that measure since February. At the same time, the JOLTS data showed hiring in the first four months of the year was up--albeit just 0.2 percent--from the same period in 2012.