Headlines

The Conference Board released Monday its Employment Trends Index (ETI) for August, reporting a slight increase from July to a reading of 121.29. "The strong increase in the Employment Trends Index in recent months signals robust job growth through the fall," said Gad Levanon, director of macroeconomic research at the Conference Board, adding that August's lower-than-expected employment numbers "seem to be a one-month deviation from a stronger trend."

Profits at independent mortgage banks nationwide jumped from the first quarter to the second as loan production spiked, according to a trend report from business advisory firm Richey May & Co. "Independent mortgage bankers' unit volume, expenses and margins were very close to those they experienced in the third quarter of 2013," said Keith May, managing director of advisory services at Richey May.

In Dallas, HomeStar Companies announced the appointment of a new CFO and COO, naming longtime housing veteran Steve Hozie to the dual roles.

Despite economic strides made in the last few months, Fannie Mae's latest survey found Americans' outlook toward housing deteriorated again in August, "[suggesting] that housing activity may resume its modest recovery in 2015 after some pullback last year," analysts said. "The August National Housing Survey results lend support to our forecast that 2015 will likely not be a breakout year for housing," said Doug Duncan, SVP and chief economist at Fannie Mae.

Following the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) recent request for input on its proposal for a single security for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Urban Institute expressed support for the idea but concern that FHFA may be unnecessarily slow in implementing such a plan.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced this week that it has published final guidelines for large financial institutions regarding the strengthening of governance and risk management practices for those institutions. Covered institutions will now be required to control and manage risk-taking activities by following a written risk governance framework under the new guidelines, OCC announced.

According to a quarterly report from the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), institutions last quarter reported $673.9 billion in outstanding loan balances, an increase of 9.8 percent compared to the second quarter of 2013—the largest annual growth since the first quarter of 2006, the group reported.

Working with a public polling firm, New Jersey-based TD Bank released results Thursday from a survey it conducted with more than 150 Realtors around the United States. Most said they considered closing loans on time the most important quality in a lender and felt it was easier to work with banks focused on helping homebuyers. Two in five said they looked for banks that put buyers ahead of the lending process.

RealtyTrac's latest report on housing affordability shows that 96 percent of U.S. housing markets are still affordable for recent graduates making the median household income, even those with student loans. RealtyTrac found that the minimum amount of income needed to purchase a median-priced home, with and without student loans, was feasible in 475 out of 494 counties with a population of at least 100,000.

Old Republic Title announced a promotion in its ranks: Peter J. Mattson has moved up to VP of Old Republic National Title Insurance Company and manager of corporate marketing and communications for Old Republic Title Insurance Group.