News

GCC Servicing Systems, a provider of mortgage servicing technology and solutions, has announced the availability of a new investor accounting and reporting component through the company's professional services suite. This new offering enables servicers to meet the accounting and reporting requirements of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and the USDA's Rural and Community Development loan program. It also agency default reporting.

HUD is once again accepting applications for its Emergency Homeowners' Loan Program (EHLP), which provides assistance to borrowers at risk of losing their homes due to unemployment or underemployment. The new deadline for applications is September 15. The original deadline of July 22 was extended to July 27, but HUD announced Monday that it is reopening the application process because the agency believes it has enough resources to help more homeowners than have currently applied.

The city of Chicago is set to launch a targeted new loan program to help alleviate the effects of the foreclosure crisis in local neighborhoods. Through the initiative dubbed the Micro-Market Recovery Program, the city will work to foster the reoccupation of foreclosed or vacant properties in key areas of Chicago by employing both nonprofit intermediaries and for-profit capital sources to provide special funding for homebuyers and approved developers.

Pending home sales decreased overall and in three of the four national regions in July, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). However, nationally and in all four regions, pending sales remain higher than one year ago. The West was the only region to post a month-over-month increase, with sales contracts up 3.6 percent. Despite recent declines in pending sales for most of the country, NAR says contract activity over the past three months is fairly comparable to the first part of this year.

The default risk associated with newly originated mortgages continues to improve, according to the analysts at University Financial Associates (UFA). The company's default risk index for the third quarter indicates that with today's economic conditions, lenders and investors should expect defaults on new loans to be 32 percent higher than loans from the 1990s. That's down from an elevated risk of 41 percent during the first part of this year. UFA says at this rate, ""normalcy may not be far away"" for default and prepayment indicators.

Sperlonga Data and Analytics, a subsidiary of national real estate asset management firm MMREM, has announced the hiring of Brent Stokes, a 26-year mortgage industry veteran, for the newly created position of SVP. Sperlonga Data and Analytics provides a centralized interface for servicers and homeowners associations (HOAs) to help stakeholders minimize losses associated with transaction delays and lost revenues caused by HOA claims.

The marketplace was zeroed in on Ben Bernanke and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in hopes of a signal from the Federal Reserve's chief that new stimulus measures were in the works to rekindle the stalled economy. But there was no mention of new action. Housing was the black eye of the Fed chairman's speech. He said this recession was ""unusual"" because it was linked to a very deep slump in the housing market, and with an overhang of distressed properties and still-declining home prices, the housing sector is hindering economic growth.

Default rates on both first and second mortgages declined in July, according to the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices. Second mortgage defaults decreased from 1.4 percent in June to 1.25 percent. The first mortgage default rate for the month of July was 1.93 percent, down from 2.02 percent the previous month. Both measurements also declined from a year earlier. S&P says July's data support the downward trend the company has observed over the past two years.

Radar Logic plans to publish a response to the government's proposal to sell pools of foreclosed homes to investors to rent. In its RPX Monthly Housing Market Report for August, the company expressed concerns that the plan could negatively affect home prices in the broader market. Radar Logic believes the REOs sold in bulk to investors will come at lower prices than if they were sold individually - prices much lower than non-distressed sales, and these low prices could lead to low appraisals for other homes on the market.

California's pending home sales dipped in July, as did the share of distressed property sales. The California Association of Realtors says 44.5 percent of home sales contracts last month involved distressed properties. That's down from both the previous month and a year earlier. Short sales made up 17.5 percent of total sales. The state's Realtors have sent letters to the largest lenders with ideas on how the process can be improved and calling for their immediate attention.