Treasury has released a new progress report on its Making Home Affordable initiative, covering all the ""H"" acronyms. Since the program started in April 2009, 857,000 homeowners have received permanent loan restructurings under HAMP, and 894,000 have refinanced their mortgages through HARP. HAFA transactions tally just under 19,000. Officials say they continue to see a fall in mortgage defaults due in part to foreclosure prevention programs reaching more borrowers upstream in the process, but there's ""much more work to do.""

Mortgage interest rates dropped sharply this week as investors rushed to U.S. Treasury bonds amid concerns over the European debt crisis. Data released by Freddie Mac Thursday puts the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage at 4.00 percent for the week ending November 3rd. That marks its second lowest reading since hitting an all-time low of 3.94 percent in early October. The 30-year rate fell 10 basis points from 4.10 percent last week. Last year at this time, it was averaging 4.24 percent.

Barrett Daffin Frappier Turner and Engel, LLP, a Texas-based law firm offering a full range of legal services to creditors on defaulted residential mortgage loans, has announced five key appointments. General counsel David Seybold has been named a shareholder within the firm. The firm has also named Ryan Bourgeois general counsel within its Texas foreclosure practice. Shelley Douglass is now managing attorney over litigation. Robert D. Forester II and Connie J. Vandergriff have been appointed supervising attorneys over litigation.

Those who know someone who has defaulted on a mortgage are more likely to have a pessimistic outlook on the economy, according to Fannie Mae's third quarter National Housing Survey. However, knowing a defaulter does not seem to cloud their view of homeownership. Ninety-two percent of owners who know someone who defaulted on a mortgage and 89 percent of owners who do not know a defaulter agree that owning a home makes more sense than renting.

While the newly revised Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) includes several provisions aimed at widening the program's reach, Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Johnny Isakson of Georgia are asking the Obama administration to broaden the program even more by opening it up to homeowners with higher equity in their homes. Currently, the revised program is aimed at helping those with less than 20 percent equity. Lawmakers say nearly 12 million more borrowers would benefit if there were no equity restraints.

The nation's second largest mortgage company is asking the U.S. Treasury for another $6 billion in capital support after posting its largest quarterly loss in over a year. Freddie Mac says it recorded a net loss of $4.4 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, after shouldering a $4.8 billion loss on derivatives and a $3.6 billion provision for credit losses related to high levels of mortgage refinancing and lower mortgage insurance recoveries. The GSE's REO operations expense skyrocketed to $221 million in the third quarter, compared to $27 million for the second quarter.

Ally Financial's CEO Michael Carpenter told investors Wednesday that his company ""would not settle for the kind of numbers being bandied about"" as recompense for mishandled foreclosure paperwork. Ally's GMAC Mortgage was the first servicer to admit to robo-signing issues and affidavit errors related to foreclosure processing last fall. Analysts estimate the company could be on the hook for $2.5 billion of state attorneys general's $25 billion settlement proposal. Carpenter says it should be a ""small fraction"" of that amount.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said at a press conference Wednesday that ""ongoing drags from troubled housing conditions and still tight credit"" have led Fed officials to downgrade their forecasts for short-term economic growth. Bernanke quite frankly told reporters that problems in the housing sector are a big reason why our economy is not recovering more quickly. Despite the diminished outlook and Bernanke's repeated references to the depressed housing market, the Federal Reserve announced no new policy actions.

Reisenfeld & Associates LPA, LLC, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based legal services provider, recently announced the addition of Joel F. Bornkamp, Philip Q. Ratliff, Michael J. Lubes, and Majenica L. Springer to its legal team. Reisenfeld & Associates is a full-service creditors' rights law firm offering legal services to the mortgage, banking, and default servicing industries. The firm provides representation in all counties and federal districts in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, and is currently designated counsel for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

After falling to a 13-year low during the second quarter, the U.S. homeownership rate posted a highly unexpected rise in the third quarter. Data released by the Census Bureau Wednesday puts the nation's homeownership rate at 66.3 percent. That's up from 65.9 percent at mid-year. With foreclosures forcing homeowners out of their homes and buyers waiting on the sidelines as home values declined, the rate has been heading south for quite some time. In fact, the third-quarter rise is the first in two years.