REO

Data released by Lender Processing Services (LPS) Thursday indicates foreclosure and delinquency numbers are on the rise again. The company says foreclosures were initiated on 217,486 loans in June, up more than 10 percent from May. The national delinquency rate also increased to 8.15 percent. As a supplement to this month's report, LPS examined its historical data and found that nearly half of all loans originated in the U.S. since 2005 would not qualify as a Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) under regulators' current proposal.

The combination of declines in home prices and in the value of the dollar is making U.S. homes very affordable for some foreign buyers, according to Capital Economics. The 33-percent drop in housing values since the beginning of 2006 translates to an even greater decline when the dollar value is compared with Canadian, Chinese, and European currencies. While international investors likely won't bring recovery to the American housing market in the near-term, the research firm says they may provide a boost to a handful of states.

A study released by Clear Capital Thursday reveals home prices continue to correct from winter's extended declines, edging up on the increase in sales activity that comes with warmer weather. But even recent gains off the record low experienced earlier this year have not been enough to change the broader housing picture, Clear Capital says. Its latest reading of national home prices shows an annual decline of 7.9 percent, with only a handful of markets in the Northeast bucking the trend.

Stewart Lender Services has developed a boutique REO asset management and disposition solution for community banks. The company says its approach can be sized for each individual lender and is designed to maximize the value of the bank's assets in the shortest amount of time. One key to achieving those results, Stewart says, is starting as early in the process as possible, in the pre-foreclosure stage. That combined with accurately valuing the asset and securing the title from the onset can shave weeks off the disposition cycle.

Despite a declining share of REO and short sales, and a seasonal increase in non-distressed sales, CoreLogic says home prices in June came in 6.8 percent below June 2010. Even with fewer distressed properties changing hands, short sale and REO transactions are weighing heavy on the overall market numbers. CoreLogic's data show that when distressed sales are excluded from the equation, the year-over-year price decline narrows to 1.1 percent. On a monthly basis, CoreLogic reports that home prices edged up 0.7 percent from May to June.

Safeguard Properties, one of the largest privately held mortgage field services companies in the country, has announced four new appointments to its executive and management teams. Scott Wilson has been named to the newly created position of VP of property preservation. Amitha Rao now serves as director of enterprise information management. Dennis Hoye has taken on the role of corporate controller, and Adam Szczesniak has been appointed director of infrastructure services.

The commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) market had been abuzz with positive momentum and murmurings of recovery for the better part of this year, but Trepp says that has all but vanished within the past few weeks. The research firm reported Tuesday that its latest monthly CMBS delinquency reading surpassed the previous record. In July, the delinquency rate for U.S. commercial real estate loans in CMBS shot up 51 basis points to 9.88 percent, as spreads widened and a highly publicized new issue was pulled from the market.

Econohomes, an online source for wholesale investment properties based out of Austin, Texas, is now offering fully renovated residential properties to its REO inventory. Econohomes says its renovated offerings fit the bill for owner-occupiers who don't want to have to deal with repairs and for investors looking for a home they can quickly rent out to generate positive cash flow. The company is actively exploring ways to expand its supply of renovated homes.

The House Financial Services Committee is considering a bill to ease the pressure that unsold inventories of vacant, foreclosed homes are putting on the housing market. The Neighborhood Preservation Act would authorize FDIC-member banks, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac to enter into five-year lease agreements to rent REO properties back to the foreclosed homeowner. News surfaced last month that the administration was considering such a policy for Fannie and Freddie, but a group of bipartisan U.S. representatives want to enact it with legislation.

Short-sale disputes were designated as the most significant legal issue facing real estate professionals, according to a recent study by the National Association of Realtors. Almost 55 percent of survey respondents listed short sales as the cause of ""a significant number of disputes."" REO-related issues also ranked high on the legal barometer. NAR conducts its ""legal scan"" study every two years, combining legal data and research with survey results from key industry participants.