Just when it seemed like rates could not fall any further, Freddie Mac reported fixed mortgage rates sunk even further for the week ending May 10. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.83 percent (0.7 point), down slightly from last week's average of 3.84 percent. The 15-year fixed also moved downward, ending at 3.05 percent (0.7 point) this week. Alongside Freddie Mac's figures, Bankrate.com reported record low numbers after conducting its survey, which pulls data provided by the top 10 banks and thrifts in the top 10 markets.

First time claims for unemployment insurance resumed their steady decline dipping 1,000 to 367,000 for the week ended May 5, the Labor Department reported Thursday after the previous week's total was revised upward by 3,000 to 368,000, the highest level in five months.

Fannie Mae said Wednesday that it brought in $2.7 billion dollars in net income during the first quarter of this year, and for the first time since it was seized by the government in September of 2008, the company does not need a draw of taxpayer funds from Treasury to get out of the red. Fannie Mae says its improving numbers can be traced to lower credit-related expenses as the decline in home prices slowed and the company shed some of its REO holdings.

Ellie Mae is adding a loan buy-back insurance option to its Total Quality Loan (TQL) program.

Transaction Dynamics, a Roseville, California-based consulting firm, hired Lynn Effinger to join the company's management team as director of new business development.

Analyzing the housing market through the perspective of 384 markets, Fiserv Case-Shiller Indexes pointed to a slow, but steady pace toward recovery after dramatic price declines. According to the Fiserv indexes, in the fourth quarter of 2011, home prices in 70 of the 384 metro areas tracked were either unchanged or had increased compared to the same quarter a year ago. Also, 122 of the metros saw prices decline by less than 2 percent. On the other hand, nearly one-half of the metro areas, or 191, saw prices decrease by more than 2 percent.

After declining during the 2012 first quarter, the national mortgage delinquency rate is at its lowest level since the first quarter of 2009 and finally dropped after two consecutive quarterly increases. TransUnion reported Wednesday that the national delinquency rate, which includes borrowers 60 or more days past due, is 5.78 percent for the first quarter of 2012, a quarterly and yearly drop when the rates were 6.01 percent and 6.19 percent, respectively.

According to Freddie Mac's first quarter refinance analysis, 79 percent of homeowners who refinanced their first-lien mortgage either maintained or reduced their mortgage debt. Of these borrowers, 58 percent retained about the same loan amount, which is the highest level reached in the 26-year history of the analysis, while 21 percent managed to reduce their principal balance.

Solvency issues re-emerged for the Federal Housing Administration in a hearing convened Tuesday by the Senate Banking Committee, with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan calling for lower loan-to-value thresholds and more servicer competition to expand refinance opportunities. The hearing quickly turned to servicer competition, which the HUD official said is lacking in part because of strict underwriting guidelines under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, inflating home prices and keeping refinance opportunities out of reach for many homeowners.

Due to one important adjustment, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might start accepting funds to be applied toward principal reduction in California. The Keep Your Home California program once required participants in its principal reduction program to match funds it provided towards reducing principal. Recently, housing finance agency officials from the state announced a decision to no longer require lenders to match the funds the program provides, the L.A. Times first reported.