News

In September, prices for commercial real estate increased 1.4 percent from August and 6.9 percent from a year ago, according to Moody's Investors Service's national all-property composite. The composite's components consist of the apartment and core commercial sectors. Compared to the January 2010 trough, commercial real estate prices were 28 percent higher, but prices still remain 21.8 percent below the December 2007 peak. Boston and New York led with the biggest yearly gains in commercial real estate out of six major metro areas measured.

Joellen Raiti, Nationwide Title Clearing (NTC) VP and author of the company's latest white paper, says trailing documents have become a major problem for some banks, exposing them to risk and costing servicers time and money.

Demand in the single-family rental market continues to expand even as inventory tightens, according to the latest MarketPulse report from CoreLogic. Comparing lease rates, supply, pricing, and the ratio between bid prices and asking prices clearly demonstrates an increasingly tightening market. Currently, the greatest amount of growth is occurring in North Port, Florida; Cape Coral, Florida; and Honolulu.

Two more banks have lost in their attempts to dismiss claims of misconduct in sale of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote rejected motions filed by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, two of 16 defendants brought before her court by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). In their arguments, attorneys for Deutsche Bank and Goldman say that FHFA's allegations are inadequate to support its claim of fraud.

The national mortgage delinquency rate fell further in Q3 2012 to 5.41 percent, TransUnion reported Tuesday. The rate is a decrease from 5.49 percent in Q2 2012 and a near 8 percent drop from 5.88 percent in Q3 2011, according to the credit bureau. The delinquency rate includes borrowers who are past due by 60 or more days. When examining improvements among metropolitan areas, however, TransUnion found a smaller share of metros experienced a drop in their rates compared to previous quarters.

Mortgage Daily released a list of the top 10 servicers based on portfolio size as of September 30. However, Mortgage Daily says spots 4-6 on the third quarter list could change due to recent acquisitions from Ocwen Financial Corporation, Nationstar Mortgage, and Walter Investment Management. For now, top servicers on the list were Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, and U.S. Bank. Ocwen, which is not on the top 10 list, is expected to move into a top five position.

The implementation of the Basel III capital rules may be postponed beyond the start of 2013, according to a joint statement released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve. The announcement follows a comment period during which many trade organizations and institutions expressed apprehension about the new requirements.

The national mortgage settlement monitor, Joseph A. Smith, launched an outreach Monday to inform servicemembers of their ability to report servicing complaints online. Through the outreach, Smith wanted to specifically encourage servicemembers to report mortgage servicing complaints online to keep the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight better informed.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) offered market projections into 2014 during a forum at the 2012 Realtors Conference and Expo. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun says he expects the market share of distressed sales to fall from about 25 percent in 2012 to 8 percent in 2014, according to a release on the forum. The housing recovery was expected to continue so long as credit does not further tighten and a fiscal cliff is avoided.

The state of the housing market continues to improve though recovery remains ""fragile,"" according to the October Housing Scorecard released Friday by the Obama administration. Along with the scorecard, the administration released special instructions for those administering the Making Home Affordable Program in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. In areas directly impacted by Hurricane Sandy, servicers must offer at least three months forbearance to any homeowners eligible for Making Home Affordable who request forbearance.