Headlines

A first-look reading of the University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters consumer confidence index shows the measure climbed to 98.2 as of mid-January, up nearly five points from a final December reading of 93.6 and from a consensus forecast of 94.1 among economists polled by Thomson Reuters.

California's housing market made more small strides toward stability over the last 12 months, though sales activity took a dip compared to the year before. For the entire year, C.A.R. estimates that 383,320 single-family homes closed escrow across the state, a 7.6 percent decline from 2013.

In a survey released Thursday, Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged a rate of 3.66 percent (0.6 point) for the week ending January 2015, a decline of 7 basis points from last week. Last year around this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.41 percent.

Indecomm Global Services, a firm offering business process outsourcing, learning, and technology solutions to financial services companies and other businesses, appointed Linda Bomar as VP of sales for the mortgage industry.

As part of a push to expand its growing operation, LenderLive Network has named Mark Hughes to serve as president of its Due Diligence Division.

In New York, national title insurance firm MiT National Land Services added Daniel Eckert to its team to run the company's National Division.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday that mortgage application volumes jumped by a seasonally adjusted 49.1 percent for the week ending January 9. The surge—the largest weekly increase since 2008, MBA said—followed a sharp drop in 2014's closing weeks.

During an hour-long speech at the Press Club in Washington, D.C., HUD Secretary Julian Castro spoke of the economic progress the nation made in 2014, such as experiencing the fastest job growth rate in 15 years, and he addressed HUD's initiatives which are aimed at promoting, increasing, and expanding opportunities for Americans to own a home.

In a comment letter addressed to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) general counsel, Alicia Nealon, director of regulatory affairs for the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), voiced the association's opposition to the proposal, which she says would "disenfranchise over 1 million credit union member-owners."

Carrington Holding Company has named Rudy Orman as managing director of business development for Carrington Mortgage Holdings, according to an announcement from the firm.