News

A recently unveiled plan to phase out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and overhaul the secondary mortgage market may have hit a snag in the Senate. Six key senators reportedly decided not to give their support to the bill unless they’re able to make major changes during markup.

Nationally, asking prices rose 0.8 percent month-over-month in March and 2.8 percent quarter-over-quarter in April. Yet asking prices rose a mere 9.0 percent year-over-year, the smallest gain in 11 months according to an analysis of data from Trulia’s Price Monitor and Rent Monitor. With monthly and quarterly increases holding steady, why are yearly increases slipping?

Responding to recent tornadoes, Mercury Network will waive the transaction fees for disaster reports in all impacted areas. Fees will be waived for 90 days. Mercury Network is a cloud-based vendor management software platform used by over 600 mortgage lenders and appraisal managements companies.

A report released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) showed that mortgage credit availability was down slightly in April, which means a tightening of standards in the mortgage industry. The results showed that the Mortgage Credit Availability Index decreased by 0.18 percent to 113.8 from March to April. Credit availability is, however, still above the index benchmark of 100, which was set in March of 2012.

The number of foreclosure deeds in New Hampshire fell in March, suggesting that New Hampshire's long term foreclosure outlook will continue to improve, according to the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority (NHHFA). The foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2014 was below that of every year since 2007, and is 21 percent below last year's first quarter.

Carrington Mortgage Services announced that Chad Ruggles has been hired as National Sales Director. Utilizing Ruggles' experience, Carrington's retail sales operation will focus on growth.

In its Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Freddie Mac clocked the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) at an average 4.21 percent (0.6 point), down from 4.29 percent and the lowest level since late last year. A year ago, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.42 percent. The 15-year FRM also moved down, dipping to 3.32 percent (0.6 point) from 3.38 percent in last week’s survey.

In a recent speech at the 2014 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) Directors Conference, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Mel Watt addressed issues related to the 12 FHLBanks. Watt spoke on a variety of topics, including franchise value, FHLBanks' core mission activities, and membership composition.

DocuTech, a provider of compliance and documentation technology, announced recently that Justin Summers has been named as director of implementations and professional services. Summer will be responsible for process improvement, technical solutions, and workflow analytics.

Releasing their earnings reports simultaneously, Fannie and Freddie reported first-quarter profits of $5.3 billion and $4.0 billion, respectively—a major step back from incomes reported last year but still a fair amount for what was a slow period for the housing market. Both enterprises have reported profits each quarter for more than two years straight.