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Backlogged foreclosures, severe oversupply, and negative equity are pulling home prices down further, according to Radar Logic. The company tracks 25 major metropolitan areas across the country. Its latest index recorded a decline in the composite reading of 5.1 percent in April when compared to April 2010. The monthly sales rate remained more than 9 percent below April 2010. While sales of non-foreclosed homes increased more quickly than sales of foreclosed homes, RadarLogic says foreclosures are selling at an average discount of 39 percent.

The law firm of Davidson Fink LLP recently announced that partner Heather C.M. Rogers is the new chair of the 4,877-member Real Property Law Section of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) for the 2011-2012 term. At Davidson Fink, Rogers manages the default operations department and is the primary client liaison for the firm. She also dedicates a portion of her practice to commercial and residential real estate and business and corporate law.

The debate over what constitutes a Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) is heating up, with a pivotal argument centered around whether or not the proposed QRM stipulations will actually lower the risk of default. In one corner you have the handful of regulators charged with putting the definition of QRM into the rule book, and in the other corner you have just about everybody else, with consumer advocates joining mortgage bankers in a rare showing, and congressional lawmakers standing firmly alongside them.

The phenomenon of strategic default has become a growing concern within the industry, but a new ""Market Insight Snapshot"" released by Experian Thursday suggests the percentage of mortgage defaults involving borrowers who decided to simply throw in the towel is trending downward. Since strategic defaults hit 20 percent of all mortgages 60-plus days delinquent in the fourth quarter of 2008, they've come in below that mark ever since, according to the study. By mid-2010, the share of intentional walk-aways was 17 percent.

After the headline news that home prices double-dipped, forecasters are predicting a 2011 turning point for the U.S. housing market, according to the investment and risk management firm MacroMarkets. The company polled 108 economists and real estate experts this month to gauge their predictions. Nearly two-thirds believe the bottom for home prices arrived in the first quarter or will arrive sometime before year-end. The consensus, though, is that we should not be expecting a rebound in home values, but rather a level of price stability.

Twenty-eight percent of homebuyers in California who signed their name on the dotted line last month are buying REO properties. At the same time, short sale deals made up some 19 percent of the state's pending home sales in May. These are the latest figures released by the California Association of Realtors. While the state's 48 percent distressed market share is significant by all accounts, some areas of California are nearly fully saturated in distressed sales. In Madera County, REOs and short sales claimed 90 percent of all pending sales last month.

CoreLogic has announced the introduction of Verification of Military Status (VOMS), a compliance and loan portfolio due diligence solution. VOMS allows mortgage servicers to identify borrowers protected under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), which bans foreclosures and caps interest rate increases for those on active duty and up to 90 days following discharge.

Freddie Mac said Thursday that mortgage interest rates, while mixed this week, held steady at low levels for the second straight week. The 30-year fixed rate matched last week's 4.50 percent average, while the 15-year rate edged up to 3.69 percent.

Asset management and loss mitigation provider Green River Capital is expanding its REO services to the commercial mortgage industry. The new services include the disposition of assets, property maintenance, lease verification, and property valuation. Focusing its commercial REO efforts on small balance properties, the firm will also handle evictions and repairs and offer full title services.

Commercial real estate prices (CRE) in the U.S. declined in April by 3.7 percent, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service. It marked the index's lowest level since its inception, but Moody's says the price recovery that began a year ago among ""trophy properties"" in the largest markets is still evident and continuing. However, this decrease is the index's fifth consecutive decline with distressed prices negating the price recovery seen in larger, higher quality assets.