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The general policy of the Federal Reserve is that banks should make every effort to dispose of foreclosed properties and get them off their books as quickly as feasibly possible. However, holding onto these properties and renting them out to tenants may be the way to go ""in light of the extraordinary market conditions that currently prevail,"" the Fed said Thursday. Provided their REO rentals constitute community development under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), lenders will receive favorable CRA consideration for this course of action.

While having access to credit to finance a home remains a challenge, Capital Economics reported that signs show banks might be a bit more willing to lend. However, these ""signs"" aren't necessarily surfacing from data on the volume of mortgage lending, which continues to fall. The research firm said the value of mortgage lending has recently started to rise, and explained that this is happening specifically with commercial banks, which have started to lend more per borrower.

Starting next Monday on April 9, FHA upfront mortgage insurance premiums will rise from 1 percent to 1.75 percent of the base loan amount, and the annual mortgage insurance premium will rise by 0.10 percent for loans under $625,500 and by 0.35 percent for loans above that amount. Even if one hasn't applied for a loan just yet, Dan Green, loan officer with Waterstone Mortgage in Cincinnati and author of themortgagereports.com, said by getting an FHA loan registered by April 9, one can avoid paying those premiums.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is still below 4 percent and showed very little movement since last week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.98 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending April 5, 2012, down just slightly from last week's average of 3.99 percent but a significant decrease compared to this time last year when the 30-year rate averaged 4.87 percent.

First time claims for unemployment insurance fell 6,000to 357,000 for the week ended March 31, the Labor Department reported Thursday but the previous week’s report were revised upward to show a jump for the week ended March 24 to 363,000 instead of the originally reported 357,000.

The valuation firm Clear Capital released the results of its home price forecasting models Thursday. The company expects residential property values at the national level to begin to show slight increases over the next three months, ending the year with a growth rate of 1.2 percent. Clear Capital's diagrams depict the valley shape with current prices at the bottom and a subtle upward trend from March through December of 2012. Markets in the southern part of the country are expected to perform the strongest.

With studies showing that blacks and Hispanics were disproportionately affected by the housing market crises, the Insight Center for Community and Economic Development's Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative hosted a webinar on how the $25 billion settlement will affect communities of color. One of the most important things in this deal is that the five largest servicers have agreed to reduce principal loan balances, said Janis Bowdler, moderator for the webinar and director of the Wealth Building Policy Project for the National Council of La Raza.

HARP may have expanded its eligibility requirements to reach more borrowers, but according to a mortgage industry advisory firm, that doesn't mean marketing the program should be so broad-based. Mass marketing to borrowers without screening-out those that cannot qualify for the program will dramatically increase marketing costs, reduce productivity both at the point-of-sale and in the back office, and frustrate homeowners, according to a release from STRATMOR Group and Financial Literacy Solutions.

When excluding distressed sales, such as short sales and REO transactions, prices actually increased on a month-over-month basis in February, according to the February 2012 Home Price Index released by CoreLogic Wednesday. Though, when including distressed sales, prices decreased compared to the month before. Month-over-month home prices increased by 0.7 percent in February when not factoring in distressed sales and decreased 0.8 percent compared to the year before.

FICO's quarterly survey of bank risk professionals found a reversal in the sentiment of U.S. lenders, with expectations for loan repayments more upbeat in the first quarter of 2012 than they had been during the previous quarter. The results show fewer lenders are anticipating a rise in delinquencies on home loans than at any time since FICO launched its survey in early 2010. When asked about the availability of credit, however, the credit gap persists in housing, with lenders still unsure about the real estate sector.