News

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday charged RBS Securities Inc., the wholesale banking subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland, with misleading investors in a 2007 subprime residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) offering. RBS agreed to settle the matter and pay more than $150 million, which the SEC will use to compensate investors for harm suffered as a result of the RBS deal.

Delinquency and foreclosure data reveals the housing market is heading back to pre-crisis norms, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest National Delinquency Survey. The percentage of home loans in delinquency or foreclosure was 9.75 percent as of the third quarter, the lowest level in about five years, according to the trade group's report. Likewise, foreclosure starts, at just 0.6 percent, are approaching pre-crisis levels.

Bill Griffin, EVP at Lender Processing Services (LPS), has been elected to serve on the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) board of directors, the company announced. Griffin joins a number of new board members who will work together with the existing members to set MBA's strategic direction and oversee management of its initiatives.

While headlines continue to portray a housing market with rising prices and tight inventory, vacancies remain high. Government data released this week reveal a dark cloud looming behind the bright headlines. According to Trulia, more than three-fourths of the nation's largest markets are dealing with more empty homes than prior to the latest housing bubble.

Though many analysts in recent months have waved off concerns of a new housing bubble in the making, Fitch Ratings says now might actually be a good time to worry. The agency's analysts have identified a bubble risk in continuing price increases and see several factors that could halt, or even reverse, recent market gains, Fitch explained in a report released Wednesday.

Freddie Mac has priced a $630 million offering of Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) debt notes, marking the second STACR offering in which private sources--not taxpayers--take on the credit risk. According to a statement from the GSE, about 50 broadly-diversified investors participated in the offering for the debt notes, which are scheduled to settle November 12.

Schneiderman & Sherman, P.C., named Patricia Carey managing attorney for the firm's litigation group. As a litigation specialist for 18 years, Carey has taught trial skills to hundreds of law students and new attorneys both as a managing attorney and guest faculty member of the Committee on Regional Training.

Fannie Mae released its September book of business, revealing further declines as new acquisitions came to their lowest level in more than a year. The GSE's book of business totaled $3.163 trillion as of the end of September, shrinking at a compound annual rate of 1.3 percent. The company's single-family serious delinquency rate slipped to 2.55 percent.

A private-sector initiative launched by JPMorgan Chase in early 2011, the 100,000 Jobs Mission, is less than 8,000 positions from its goal. Member companies have collectively hired 92,869 U.S. military veterans through the third quarter of 2013, the organization recently reported. Firm's participating in the initiative are working toward a goal of hiring at least 100,000 veterans by the year 2020.

Homebuyers shook off their fears and returned to the market in force following the re-opening of the government in October, according to data presented by Redfin's Research Center. The online brokerage reported a 58 percent annual increase in the number of interested buyers reaching out to its agents in the week immediately following the resolution of the partial federal government shutdown. The number of clients touring homes and those making offers also grew.