News

Sales figures for previously owned homes rose in August following a big correction in July, according to data released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Thursday. The trade group's existing-home sales report showed a 7.6 percent increase in transactions during the month, bumping the annualized sales pace to 4.13 million homes and reducing for-sale inventory to an 11.6-months supply. The sales share of distressed homes rose to 34 percent last month. Analysts say the results are in line with expectations but disappointing, nonetheless.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has launched its Web-based OneFile mortgage processing solution, allowing lenders to replace paper-based processes. The majority of lenders--76 percent--still rely on paper-based methods to process mortgages, according to a survey conducted by the technology firm. Wolters Kluwer says its OneFile platform is designed to improve productivity, lower costs, grow portfolios, and improve borrowers' customer experience.

Commercial real estate fundamentals are still ailing from the recession and lack clear signs of near-term improvement. As a result, investors remain focused on core assets and proven markets, according to the third quarter findings of an investor survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report highlights an improved lending environment and reveals that with a limited number of quality offerings to absorb all the pent-up capital, competition is strong among buyers of top-rated assets.

Assistant Treasury Secretary Herbert M. Allison said Wednesday that he will be stepping down from his post at the end of September. Allison was responsible for overseeing the administration's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The Treasury's Office of Homeownership Preservation also fell under his jurisdiction. The former Fannie Mae CEO has played an integral role in the development and management of the Obama administration's housing and foreclosure prevention programs.

The credit bureau TransUnion says U.S. consumers are less of a credit risk now than they were in 2009 and earlier this year. The agency's proprietary Credit Risk Index declined 0.9 percent between the first and second quarters of 2010. The drop was more than double the decrease observed between the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. TransUnion says it signals that ""a broad improvement in consumer credit conditions is finally taking root.""

The volume of home loan applications submitted to lenders last week fell 1.4 percent compared to the week prior, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Overall mortgage activity was marred by a drop in both refinance requests and home purchase applications despite the fact that interest rates headed lower.

The analysts at Moody's are downbeat in their outlook for both the U.S. economy and the housing market. They warn that the there's a stronger chance the country will slide back into a recession, and they are forecasting a longer and deeper housing correction. Because of weak housing demand, soft job creation, and the slow speed at which the industry is working through distressed mortgages, Moody's says recovery is already back-sliding into a double-dip. The agency expects house prices to fall until the third quarter of next year.

A coalition of community groups called on the Federal Reserve to overhaul a 35-year old law that requires lenders to report vital information on their mortgage lending practices. At a Federal Reserve Board hearing held last week in Chicago, advocates urged the Fed to increase the scope of information mortgage lenders must report and to use the data to crack down on lenders that engage in the sorts of discriminatory and abusive lending practices that led to the current foreclosure crisis and financial meltdown.

Fannie Mae announced Monday that more than 29,000 owner occupants have purchased Fannie-owned REO homes over the last year through the GSE's First Look initiative. Fannie Mae also worked with nearly 800 public entities under HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program, enabling state and local governments and nonprofit groups to purchase nearly 5,000 foreclosure properties from the GSE's portfolio. Fannie says homebuyers who intend to occupy a home merit priority consideration in its REO sales process.

It was reported by Bloomberg Monday that Ally Financial's GMAC Mortgage had ordered its brokers and agents to halt foreclosures and REO sales on homeowners in 23 states. The company has denied the rumored foreclosure moratorium, calling it ""untrue speculation."" GMAC says an internal procedural error may cause some delays for foreclosures already in process, but all new foreclosure actions are ""continuing in the ordinary course of business with no interruption.""