News

JPMorgan Chase's board has announced its intention to elect Linda B. Bammann and Michael A. Neal to join as directors.

In Capital Economics' latest edition of US Housing Market Analyst, property economist Paul Diggle notes investor activity has fallen off nearly one-fifth over the last four months, with investor sales dropping to 18 percent as inventory of distressed homes declines. On the other hand, the ongoing rise in prices has encouraged more sellers to enter the market, which should temper further gains. ""With sellers motivated by the earlier rise in house prices, we expect the loosening in supply conditions to go much further over the next year,"" Diggle said.

Radian Guaranty Inc. reported a decline in primary mortgage insurance delinquencies in August. The monthly release, based on statistics reported to Radian from loan servicers, showed delinquent inventory fell by 11,715 (15.2 percent) over August to end the month at 65,427. The majority of the monthly decline came from a master transaction agreement with Freddie Mac which removed its exposure to 9,756 loans that were delinquent as of December 31, 2011 (in addition to 4,586 re-performing loans).

The National Association of Home Builders' Improving Markets Index--a list of areas showing sustained improvement in employment, home prices, and housing permits--reached a record high of 291 in September, according to release. ""While there is still plenty of room for growth, this is an excellent indication of how the housing recovery has begun to take hold across more geographical areas,"" ""said Rick Judson, chairman of the NAHB and a home builder from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage delinquency rates fell across all major investor groups in the second quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported. The 60+ day delinquency rate for multifamily loans held or insured by Freddie Mac fell 0.07 percentage points to 0.09 percent, while the delinquency rate for Fannie Mae-held loans fell 0.11 percentage points to 0.28 percent. FDIC-insured banks and thrifts reported a 2.16 percent 90+ day delinquency rate for their commercial/multifamily loans, a drop of 0.26 percentage points.

In California, NextAce Corporation is marking its 10th year of providing automate real property intelligence by making its patented Title EDGE automated title search platform available directly from its website.

LOGS Network recently announced a name change for its network law firm serving the state of Missouri. The firm's new moniker is Shapiro & Kreisman, LC. In addition, LOGS said Shapiro & Kreisman has named 20-year-plus legal veteran John G. Forsythe as its new managing attorney.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is putting on notice companies that furnish information to credit reporting firms, reminding them that they are responsible for investigating consumer disputes forwarded to them.

For its most recent quarterly report, Redfin surveyed 1,772 active homebuyers across the 22 markets it covers. Respondents hailed from all over the country. Out of those polled, 56 percent said rising rates have impacted their ability to buy a home ""somewhat,"" while an additional 7 percent said rates are impacting them ""a lot."" In addition, more homebuyers pointed to rising mortgage rates as one of their major concerns with buying a home right now.

While August's employment situation report was less than robust (with a staggering reduction in July's revised payrolls), it wasn't the first set of data to suggest trouble on the horizon for the housing recovery. The Case-Shiller home price index for June--the most recent--showed continuing, albeit slower, house price gains, pushing affordable homeownership still further from low paid workers. That is, until the numbers change again.