News

The number of improving housing markets in September climbed to 99 from 80 in August, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI).

In the case Fannie Mae v. Lopez, Judge Lynn G. Norton of the Elmore County District Court ruled in favor of Fannie Mae and dismissed complaints against MERS.

Appraisals may assign a home with one exact specific value, but in reality, a home's value tends to fall into a price range due to a number of different factors, according to a Home Value Forecast report released by Pro Teck Valuation Services and Collateral Analytics. To address this issue, Home Value Forecast suggests establishing a range of value in addition to an appraisal and improving data to support market condition conclusions.

As part of its ongoing series on economic issues in this year's election swing states, IHS Global Insight released a report on the Centennial State: Colorado. The report revealed that addressing housing and the economy in the state may not be the best tack for either major party candidate to take, as Coloradans have relatively little to worry about on both counts.

When he ran for the presidency in 1980, Ronald Reagan, then Republican governor of California, struck at then-President Jimmy Carter over the strength of the economy. His question for Americans: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? That's the question Paul Ashworth and Paul Dales, senior analysts with Capital Economics, offered to answer in a report released by the consultancy on Friday. The report breaks down recent economic trends, including GDP, home sales, and median income.

On the heels of the Federal Housing Finance Agency's announcement of its revised representation and warranty guidelines, comes news that Freddie Mac will be increasing its repurchase claims in the near future. The revised rep and warranty guidelines were designed to provide more clarity in the market, but in the meantime, the FHFA Office of Inspector General reports Freddie Mac will increase repurchase requests to between $0.

The CMBS delinquency declined again for the third consecutive month, Fitch Ratings reported Friday. The CMBS delinquency rate fell 9 basis points (bps) in August to 8.39 percent from 8.48 percent in July. The ratings agency explained increased loan resolutions helped improve the delinquency rate, with more loans exiting the delinquency index then entering.

Radian Guaranty Inc. announced Wednesday that its new mortgage insurance (MI) rate finder app has landed on the iTunes App Store.

The continuation of improvements in the housing sector and servicer performance were a key focus in the Obama Administration's housing scorecard and Making Home Affordable Program report. Maintaining its tone from previous months, the Obama administration's housing scorecard said data on the housing market continues to show the market is strengthening, but still fragile. Larger servicers participating in the Making Home Affordable Program were also described as continuing to show improvement.

The Justice Department announced Thursday that it has reached a settlement with Bank of America over allegations of loan discrimination against disability income recipients. The bank was accused of violating the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by asking disabled mortgage loan applicants to provide letters from their doctors to document the income they received from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).