News

First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell 22,000 to 344,000 for the week ended February 23, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected 360,000 initial unemployment claims. The drop in filings--the third in the last four weeks--resumed a downward trend in layoffs.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed a three-count complaint against MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. (MERS) that alleged wrongful foreclosure and violations of the state's Deed of Trust Act (DTA) and Consumer Protection Act (CPA). In the case Zalac v. CTX Mortgage Corp., the plaintiff was never foreclosed on, and so the wrongful foreclosure claim was dismissed since an element of the claim was missing: a foreclosure sale.

As Moody's rates residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in post-crisis years, the firm continues to harbor some concerns about the strength of some loan pools. ""The decline of the US housing market that led to investor losses exposed limitations and flaws in many aspects of the RMBS framework,"" Moody's Investors Service stated in a report authored by VPs Kathy Kelbaugh and Yehudah Forster.

The American Dream of homeownership has been resurrected among strategic defaulters, a foreclosure agency stated in a recent report. After surveying previous clients, YouWalkAway.com found nearly 80 percent expressed a desire to purchase a new home again within the next 12 months. YouWalkAway.com explained it's common for previous customers to desire homeownership since interest rates are low and home buying lessons have been learned.

Single-family home sales in Massachusetts rose more than 10 percent year-over-year in January, according to new data from The Warren Group. Single-family sales reached 2,680--the highest January sales level since 2007, when there were 2,953 transactions. January 2012 single-family home sales were 2,436.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a U.S. District Court dismissal of a case against MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. (MERS) and 15 of its members. County clerks representing Christian and Washington County in Kentucky filed suit against MERS, alleging the defendants established MERS to allow members to avoid recording mortgage assignments and to evade paying recording fees to county clerks.

Institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation recorded their second-highest annual earnings ever in 2012, according to the FDIC's Quarterly Banking Profile for the fourth quarter of 2012. High noninterest income and declining loan loss provisions contributed to the increase, according to the FDIC. Delinquencies at FDIC-insured institutions are also declining. The number of loans 90 or more days past due fell 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter. At the end of the year, 3.6 percent of loans held by the institutions were noncurrent, down from 2.86 percent a year earlier.

ServiceLink partnered with Home CORE, a national network of nonprofit service organizations committed to providing homeownership opportunities to low-to-moderate income families. Through the partnership, ServiceLink will help Home CORE reach its objective of increasing affordable homeownership opportunities by managing all of the activities needed to transition properties into move-in condition.

The price gap between non-distressed properties and damaged REOs is widening, according to results from the January Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking survey. According to the survey, while non-distressed property prices have risen to their highest level in three years, damaged REOs, or bank-owned properties in need of repair, fell in January. The survey also found that while the investor share of purchases for damaged REOs has increased, interest for properties in that category has waned among current and first-time homebuyers.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 4.5 percent to 105.9 in January, its highest level in almost three years, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The monthly increase was the strongest since May, when the index rose 4.9 percent. Despite the strong report, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun remained cautious. ""Over the near term, rising contract activity means higher home sales, but total sales for the year are expected to rise less than in 2012, while home prices are projected to rise more strongly because of inventory shortages,"" Yun said.