Overall, demand for residential mortgages is still on a downward slope, despite record-low interest rates and extremely affordable market conditions.

The pleas from mortgage industry groups to sideline the GSEs' Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) continue.

Delinquencies on home loans within Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's portfolios continue to climb, according to a report issued this week by the two companies' conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

It's official: the overwhelming number of bank failures since the onset of the nation's financial crisis have pushed the FDIC's insurance fund into negative territory.

The bankrupt commercial real estate lender Capmark Financial has been given the green light to sell its North American servicing and mortgage banking business to Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC, a joint venture of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

In order to double its mortgage banking operation, Superior Bank of Alabama announced Tuesday that it will add more than 60 people to its existing operation.

At American Land Title Association's (ALTA) annual convention, the company announced the election of Peter J. Birnbaum, president of Attorney Title Guaranty Fund (ATG), to the 2009-2010 board of governors.

The average interest rates for both conventional 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgage loans of $417,000 or less fell in October, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported Tuesday. According to the report, interest rates on conventional 30-year fixed-rate loans of $417,000 or less fell 13 basis points to 5.

The first quarterly increase of housing prices since the second quarter of 2007 has some hoping that stabilization is on the horizon.

In an effort to support neighborhood stabilization and provide owner occupants and public entities an advantage in purchasing Fannie Mae-owned forecloses properties, the company announced Tuesday the launch of its First Look Initiative. Through Fannie Mae's First Look, only offers from owner occupants and buyers using public funds will be considered during the first 15 days a property is on the market, and offers from investors will only be considered after the first 15 days have passed.