In the Obama administration's overall assessment on housing, the market was described as showing ""important progress across many key indicators"" but the millions of underwater homeowners still call for a need to provide homeowner assistance, according to the May housing scorecard released jointly by Treasury and HUD. For example, homeowners' equity grew by more than $815 billion in the first quarter of 2013. ""Despite the positive news, we have important work ahead since there are so many families and individuals still ‘underwater' with mortgage balances higher than their home's value,"" said Kurt Usowski, HUD deputy assistant secretary for economic affairs.

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. can commit certain actions on behalf of a lender when granted the authority to do so. The landmark ruling also allows for non-judicial foreclosures in the state. The court released these decisions in its final rulings in Niday v GMAC Mortgage, LLC and Brandrup v Recontrust Company, N.A.

RedVision, a provider of title reports and real property research solutions, developed a new loan modification services bundle in response to the Obama administration's efforts to continue providing loan modifications for at-risk homeowners by extending the Making Home Affordable Program.

After falling in April and May, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) resumed its upward trend in June, NAHB reported. According to the association, the number of U.S. housing markets showing sustained growth in housing permits, home prices, and employment rose to 263 in June, five more than May's total. The index grew for several months to a record high of 274 in March before falling to 273 in April and then 258 in May.

AmOne welcomes Beth Planakis as SVP of marketing and business development. Planakis has over 16 years of experience in the digital marketing space.

Massachusetts foreclosure starts and completions plummeted over the last year in April, the Warren Group reported. For the month, the number of foreclosure petitions, which mark the first step in the foreclosure process in the Bay State, stood at 370, down 79 percent from April 2012 when there were 1,750 foreclosure petitions.

Asking prices are rising at an especially fast pace in the least affordable housing markets, according to Trulia. Nationally, asking prices increased 9.5 percent year-over-year in May, but in the ten least affordable metros, asking prices spiked 16.3 percent during the same time period. Among the least affordable markets, seven were in California. Honolulu was found to be the least affordable metro, where 74 percent of monthly household income is used to pay a mortgage.

The economy added 175,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.6.percent, the first month-over-month increase since January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Economists had forecast payrolls would grow by 170,000, and that the unemployment rate would remain at 7.5 percent. The increase in the unemployment rate came from an increase in the labor force as more people looked for work. As a result, the number of persons meeting the government definition of unemployed went up.

Two Dykema lawyers were once again named among the top lawyers by Chambers and Partners, which publishes Chambers USA 2013: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Richard Gottlieb and Donald Lampe were recognized for their work in the field of financial services regulation.