News

With the spring house hunting season upon us, Trulia reported a 7.2 percent year-over-year increase in asking prices on the national level. On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices rose 1.1 percent month-over-month. On the other hand, rent price growth--for single-family homes, at least--showed signs of stagnancy in March. Nationally, rent for single-family homes increased 0.1 percent year-over-year. ""Why have rents stopped rising on single-family homes? More supply,"" explained Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia.

""Uncertainty"" is a term that has plagued the lending industry for some time. Since the introduction of Dodd-Frank three years ago, uncertainty about the future of industry regulation has been a source of concern among close to half of lenders, according to QuestSoft, a Laguna Hills, California-based software provider. QuestSoft's fifth annual compliance survey reveals at least 49 percent of lenders have ranked Dodd-Frank-related uncertainty as a high concern for the past three years.

When federal regulators announced the abrupt ending of the Independent Foreclosure Review in place of a new agreement, the conclusion to the review process led to more questions than answers. To identify challenges in the foreclosure review process, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) undertook its own investigation. In a report, the GAO identified three hurdles that prevented federal regulators from achieving their goals through the foreclosure review: complexity of the reviews, overly broad guidance, and limited monitoring.

The economy added 88,000 jobs in March--the weakest showing since last June--but the unemployment rate dropped to 7.6.percent, its lowest level since December 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday. Economists had forecast payrolls would grow by 200,000, and that the unemployment rate would remain at 7.7 percent.

The Law Offices of Clunk, Hoose and Associates, PA announced the opening of a new full-service office in Hollywood, Florida. Firm partners John D. Clunk and Robert R. Hoose, along with attorney Shan P. Massand, will lead the new practice, which aims to bring cost-effective default management services to lenders and servicers in the South Florida market.

Markets around the country suffered from inventory shortage in February, and Connecticut was no exception, according to data from the Warren Group. The real estate data provider's February report shows single-family home sales dropped 7.7 percent year-over-year in the Constitution State, decreasing to 1,149. The decline puts an end to a 13-month streak of year-over-year sales improvements.

Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey shows the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 3.54 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending April 4, down from 3.57 percent last week. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.98 percent. Bankrate.com also observed declines in its weekly national survey. The 30-year FRM averaged 3.73 percent (down from 3.75 percent), while the 15-year fixed averaged 2.95 percent (from 2.97 percent before).

Servicers continue to make strides in home retention efforts, completing more than 360,000 retention actions in the fourth quarter of 2012. However, Fitch Ratings detects continued weak asset quality trends, especially among loans modified from 2008 through 2010. In fact, Fitch's findings lead the agency to fortify its belief that troubled debt restructurings should be counted as nonperforming assets. ""[W]e regard the high delinquency and foreclosure rates for recently modified mortgages as reflective of still elevated residential mortgage asset quality problems,"" Fitch said.

The CFPB took action against four mortgage insurance companies who gave kickbacks to lenders in exchange for business. The CFPB filed complaints and proposed consent orders against Genworth U.S. Mortgage Insurance Corporation, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation, Radian Guaranty Inc., and United Guaranty Corporation for their alleged roles in kickback arrangements. ""The orders announced today put an end to these types of arrangements and require these insurers to pay more than $15 million in penalties for violating the law,"" said CFPB director Richard Cordray.

After climbing for seven straight months, the improving markets index (IMI) from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and First American fell by one market from the prior month. The index identified 273 markets as improving this month, down from 274 in March. Although the index welcomed five new markets in April, six dropped off the list. ""In some markets, the main thing that's holding back a recovery is a relatively thin inventory of homes for sale, which could be resolved if builders had easier access to credit for building homes and putting people back to work,"" said Rick Judson, NAHB chairman.