The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) rose 2.1 percent from the first to second quarter, marking the eighth consecutive quarterly increase. In June alone, the index was up 0.7 percent month-over-month. Compared with the same quarter last year, home prices increased 7.2 percent, while prices of other goods and services inched up only 1.0 percent. According to FHFA, the inflation-adjusted price of homes rose approximately 6.2 percent over the latest year.

North Carolina-based law firm Brady Brady & Kosofsky, PA met the requirements to be a certified Women's Business Enterprise. The Women's Business Enterprise National Council granted the certification, which establishes the real estate law firm is woman-owned, operated, and controlled.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General (FHFA OIG) overall approves of Fannie Mae's $11.6 billion settlement earlier this year, though it does raise some questions regarding FHFA's treatment of compensatory fees and servicing transfers. FHFA OIG believes FHFA needs to establish set guidance for compensatory fees. Another concern the OIG labeled in a report is the transfer of servicing rights to specialty servicers.

Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc. (NTC), a leading service provider to the mortgage and financial industry, ranked on Inc.'s 500|5000 list again this year, coming in hundreds of spots higher than in 2012.

LRES, a provider of commercial and residential valuations and asset management for the mortgage, banking, credit union and real estate industries, opened up a new facility in Phoenix.

According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.58 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending August 22, up from last week's 4.40 percent. The 15-year FRM averaged 3.60 percent (0.7 point), up from 3.44 percent previously. Meanwhile, Bankrate.com reported a two-year high for the 30-year fixed average in its own weekly survey. The 30-year fixed reached 4.74 percent, Bankrate observed, while the 15-year fixed jumped to 3.75 percent.

In July, sales of single-family homes and condominiums in Illinois reached 16,012--the highest level since August 2006, the Illinois Association of Realtors reported. The total represents a 28.5 percent increase from July 2012. The median price of a home in Illinois also shot up, increasing 14.2 percent year-over-year to $169,000, IAR reported.

With housing markets improving in several capacities across the country, RealtyTrac set out to find which markets are doing best in terms of both real estate wealth and the health of their residents. States with markets performing well, according to RealtyTrac's Health and Wealth report, include Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, North Carolina, California, Tennessee, Montana, Wyoming, Iowa, and Arkansas. To determine the health of a market, RealtyTrac considered factors such as the level of activeness among residents, chronic disease incidence rates, and fast food per capita.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance for the week ending August 17 rose 13,000 to 336,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected the number of claims to rise to 330,000 from the 320,000 originally reported for the week ending August 10. The number of filings for that week was bumped up to 323,000.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have both updated their seller guides to incorporate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Ability to Repay rule under the Truth in Lending Act. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) worked with the GSEs to update their respective seller guides in alignment with one another. The basic goal of the ""Ability to Repay"" rule is to ensure lenders act in good faith that a borrower can repay his or her loan before offering the loan.