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As states across the country continue to struggle with lengthy foreclosure timelines, Illinois took a momentous step to shorten its foreclosure process last week. A new Illinois state law that allows servicers to fast-track the foreclosure process on certain properties has the potential to shorten a two-year process to between 90 and 180 days. The bill, which took almost as long to pass as Illinois former foreclosure process, received Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's signature Friday.

At the end of 2012, the national median price saw the biggest annual gain in seven years, more metros reported price improvements, and housing affordability managed to finish the year at a record level despite rising values, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Monday. In Q4 2012, median prices for existing single-family homes increased in 133 out of 152 metro areas compared to the same quarter in 2011. The NAR also found the national median price for an existing single-family home rose to $178,900 in Q4, up 10 percent from $162,600 in the fourth quarter of 2011.

For all of 2012, servicers completed more than 850,000 loan modifications, while the industry also continued to push for another foreclosure alternative--short sales, according to recent data from HOPE NOW. As of 2007, the number of completed mods now stands at 6.06 million. Since 2009, the industry has seen 1.15 million short sales, with 422,605 of the short sales occurring in 2012 alone. In 2011, completed short sales reached 372,168. ""In the past year, there has been unprecedented work from the industry with respect to short sales as a viable mortgage solution,"" said Eric Selk, executive director of HOPE NOW.

During the month of January, 14,500 homeowners received permanent mortgage modifications through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), while 53,100 homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure, according to the latest Housing Scorecard from the Obama administration. At the same time, 14,500 homeowners entered into trial modifications through HAMP, and 72,500 homes entered the foreclosure process. Proprietary modifications continue to outpace HAMP. HOPE Now reported 62,200 mortgage modifications completed in January.

Homebuyer interest got off to a strong start in 2013, according to Redfin's Real-Time Demand Pulse for February. The report, which reflects data for January, shows the number of Redfin customers requesting home tours rose 57.9 percent in January, up from 52.0 percent at the same time in 2012. January's monthly increase is a turnaround from December's slump, which saw a 7.0 percent decline in customers requesting tours.

After much speculation and anticipation, the Florida Supreme Court gave its answer to a highly-contested question that asks whether a bank could voluntarily dismiss a foreclosure case without consequence if fraudulent foreclosure documents were found and then refile the case at a later time. In the opinion released Thursday for Roman Pino v. the Bank of New York Mellon, the court sided with BKNY Mellon, emphasizing there was no adverse impact on the homeowner as a result of the bank’s voluntary dismissal of the foreclosure case.

With the increase in home and equity prices, Capital Economics suggests net household wealth may be on its way to rising above pre-recession levels later this year, which will lead to a boost to GDP. In a recent report, the firm forecasts the S&P 500 equity price index will end 2013 close to the current level of 1,500 and expects home prices to rise in the neighborhood of 5 percent. In turn, the growth in household wealth, the analytics firms says, could lift GDP by around 0.7 percent.

The national delinquency rate for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) began the year with another decline, marking the eighth consecutive month of decreases, according to Fitch Ratings. The rating agency, however, noted regional struggles in Georgia. In January, the CMBS delinquency rate fell 8 basis points, ending the month at 7.91 percent. January's CMBS delinquency rate is now at the lowest level since October 2010, when the rate stood at 7.78 percent.

After spiking last week, fixed mortgage rates held their ground this week as the economy showed signs of stability, at least for the near future. According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.53 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending February 7, unchanged from last week. This time last year, the average FRM was 3.87 percent. Bankrate reported similar findings: The 30-year fixed average was 3.76 percent, down a single basis point from last week.

Coinciding with Wednesday's House committee hearing on the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a boutique investment firm, released its predictions of what actions the government is and is not likely to take to further assist the housing market. Generally speaking, ""any large program expansions which require congressional approval are, in our view, not likely to go far,"" said Brian Gardner, SVP of Washington research at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.