News

Known as the Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards, or STAR, the program was created to establish servicing standards and acknowledge Fannie Mae servicers that stand out for their performance, customer service, and foreclosure prevention efforts, according to a release. Servicers recognized for the first half of 2013 in peer group one were Green Tree Servicing, Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial, PHH Mortgage, PNC Financial Services Group, Seterus, and Wells Fargo. In peer group two, Fannie Mae gave a nod to Fifth Third Bank and Regions Bank.

As Detroit geared up for the kick-off of the Blight Elimination Program, Mary Miller, Treasury's undersecretary for domestic finance, offered words of encouragement attendees at the event Monday. The effort to do away with residential blight is the largest in Michigan's history, according to a release from the Michigan governor's office.

Home prices rose again to their highest levels since September 2008 in June, increasing 2.2 percent, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday. The 20-city index was up 12.1 percent from a year earlier, and the companion 10-city index was up 11.9 percent. Case-Shiller's national index, reported quarterly by Standard & Poor's, was up 7.1 percent in the second quarter to 146.32, its highest level since third quarter 2008. All 20 cities included in the survey improved both month-to-month and year-to-year. The two surveys have improved monthly and yearly for 13 consecutive months.

Nationally, NAR forecasts slight drops in vacancy rates across the office, retail, and industrial markets over the next year. Multifamily vacancies are expected to edge up very slightly, on the other hand. The apartment rental market is expected to see vacancy rates climb to 4.0 percent in Q3 2014 from 3.9 percent in the third quarter of this year, ""with construction rising to meet increased demand."" On that token, NAR expects average apartment rents to rise 4.0 percent both this year and the next.

The FDIC's list of federally insured bank failures grew to 20 so far this year as two more banks collapsed. On Friday, FDIC announced the closures of Community South Bank (Parsons, Tennessee) and Sunrise Bank of Arizona (Phoenix).

The delinquency rate, which includes loans 30 days or more past due, slipped to 6.41 percent in July after increasing to 6.7 percent in June, LPS reported Monday. The decrease represents a monthly and yearly decline of 3.96 percent 8.76 percent, respectively. Foreclosure inventory also fell in July, dropping 2.82 percent, down from 3.46 percent in June. Compared to a year ago, the decrease is much steeper, at 30.76 percent. According to LPS, the foreclosure inventory rate is at the lowest level since February 2009.

As national home prices recover, Texas and Colorado are already busy setting new highs, data from Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) revealed. In June, national home prices rose 8.4 percent year-over-year to $229,000, according to LPS' Home Price Index (HPI). When compared to the 2005 peak of $270,000, prices are still down 15.2 percent. However, Colorado and Texas moved ahead of the national trend and hit new highs of $256,000 and $182,000, respectively.

EverBank came to an agreement with federal regulators to provide $37 million in relief payments to certain borrowers, leading to an end to the Independent Foreclosure Review process for the bank, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said Friday. The payment should cover 32,000 eligible mortgage customers whose homes were in any stage of foreclosure in 2009 and 2010, and checks should range from $1,050 to $125,000.

Homes are selling quickly with multiple offers and favorable prices, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey released Friday. The survey tracked time on market, number of offers, and sales-to-list-price ratio for non-distressed sales in July. California performed exceptionally well in all three categories, while parts of the Midwest underperformed. The average number of weeks a home spent on the market in the three-month period ending in July was 8.6 weeks, down from 9.2 weeks in May.

Elmore County become the second county in Alabama since 2011 to allow electronic recording for land documents, according to a release. The probate office in the county partnered with e-recording provider Simplifle to offer the service.