Tag Archives: Government

More than two years after the central bank kick off its latest economic stimulus program, policymakers at the Federal Reserve once again voted this week to scale down monthly asset purchases—and hinted that the end is in sight.

A panel of experts at the Servicing Lab at the Five Star Conference on Tuesday agreed that in order for loss mitigation to be effective in 2014 and heading into the future, servicers must find new and inventive ways to execute.

In testifying before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs earlier this week, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray said the bureau had made "considerable progress" toward its goal of protecting consumers since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Reform Act in 2010.

Employment growth in the United States took a sharp downturn in August, according to government figures released Friday. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase 142,000 in U.S. payrolls last month, well short of the 230,000 predicted by economists. August's sudden slowdown snaps a six-month streak in which payroll growth came in at 200,000 or higher.

New York-based hedge fund giant Pershing Square Capital Management sued the U.S. government on August 14, alleging that common stockholders in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been short changed since the government began sweeping profits from the GSEs into the U.S. Department of Treasury starting in 2012.

Anyone combing through President Obama's State of the Union address hoping for a hint on housing policy in the year ahead surely came away disappointed. Instead, much of Obama's focus went toward addressing wages, which have been slow to move as home prices continue to climb higher. Also on Obama's mind Tuesday was the country's unemployment situation, which looked grim as of the end of December.

One week after spiking to a two-month high, first-time claims for unemployment insurance dropped 24,000 to 334,000 for the week ending July 13--the lowest level in 10 weeks, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected the number of claims to drop to 344,000 from the 360,000 originally reported for the week ending July 6. The number of filings for that week was revised down to 358,000.

The recent softening of economic activity will not stop the country's housing market recovery, Capital Economics said in a report Wednesday. The US Housing Market Analyst for Q2 2012 speculated that modest recovery in the housing market will not only continue for the rest of the year, it will spread and cause an increase in house prices. With the modest upturn in home sales going on, Capital Economics revised its house price forecast to show gains of 2 percent in 2012 and 5 percent in 2013.

The real estate software firm eBrokerHouse recently announced the launch of the company's latest software solution -- EBH Office Solution. The company explained that the new Web-based software allows entire real estate agencies to implement the eBrokerHouse back office management system and operate completely virtual and nearly paperless.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has expanded its preferred service provider program with Minneapolis-based Wolters Kluwer Financial Services to include the company's Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and Regulation GG tool kits, as well as the company's suite of Regulation CC products.