News

With the exception of short sales, activity for distressed sales was relatively calm in June, according to data from RealtyTrac. Last month, institutional investors accounted for 9 percent of residential sales. The share represents a slight increase from 8 percent in May, and a small decrease from 10 percent in June 2012. Meanwhile, short sales saw a significant increase over the last year, representing 14 percent of all sales in June, up from 8 percent a year ago.

After five months of declines, the national mortgage delinquency reversed course in June, according to data from Lender Processing Services (LPS). From May to June, the delinquency rate shot up by 9.9 percent, ending at 6.7 percent, LPS reported. The increased delinquency rate represents the highest level since February of this year. Despite the increase, the delinquency rate still posted an annual decrease from last year. Compared to June 2012, the delinquency rate is down by 6.5 percent.

Freddie Mac is making progress toward its goal of attracting more private capital into the mortgage market. Recently, the GSE announced the offering of a single-family credit-risk sharing transaction. The $500 million offering of Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) securities, which was priced Tuesday, seeks to reduce taxpayer risk while introducing more private capital into the market.

Single-family home sales in Massachusetts rose for the second straight month in June, according to the latest report from the New England-based Warren Group. Year-over-year, home prices also increased statewide for the ninth consecutive month.

A recent survey from United States Appraisals shows appraisers are less confident in the overall state of the housing market than they were at the end of the first quarter. When asked about their current level of confidence in the housing market, 49.6 percent of respondents answered ""mildly or moderately"" strong, while 14.5 percent said ""mildly or moderately weak."" The level of confidence observed in the Q2 survey was slightly below that of the Q1 survey, when 54.5 percent of appraisers indicated a mildly or moderately strong outlook.

During a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday, Carol Galante--assistant secretary for HUD and commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)--expressed general approval for the senate's proposed FHA Solvency Act of 2013. However, she did highlight a few concerns. For one, Galante asked the bill authors to consider permitting FHA more authority when it comes to servicing. She also voiced an aversion to the bill's demand for mandatory premium increases when FHA's capital reserve ratio dips below its required level.

While the housing downturn impacted all foreign-born American homeowners, immigrant populations were impacted differently, according to a report from Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group. Using Census Bureau data from 2007 to 2011, Fannie Mae researchers set out to understand how immigrant homeowners were impacted by the housing collapse.

Upon closer examination, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has not helped as many borrowers as it may seem, according to a report from SIGTARP. HAMP, a government loan modification program created to prevent foreclosures, has provided about 1.2 million modifications to distressed borrowers since its inception in 2009. Of those borrowers, 306,538 redefaulted after falling behind on their payments by three months, which means in actuality, 865,100 are still actively in the program, the taxpayer watchdog agency revealed. Of the redefaulters, 22 percent have entered into the foreclosure process.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales welled 8.3 percent in June to 497,000, according to a report from the Census Bureau and HUD. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected June sales to increase to 484,000 from May's originally reported 476,000. The median price of a new home fell 5.0 percent in June to $249,700, the third time the median price has dropped in the last four months. May's median price was revised down to $262,800 from the originally reported $263,900.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a complaint Tuesday against Castle & Cooke Mortgage LLC over allegations that the company gave bonuses to loan officers who steered customers into mortgages with less favorable terms. The complaint, which was filed in federal district court in Utah, claims that under the direction of company president Matthew A. Pineda and Buck L. Hawkins, the SVP of capital markets, Castle & Cooke violated a rule from the Federal Reserve Board that bans compensation based on loan terms.