Government

Walker & Dunlop, Inc., announced that Douglas C. Blake has been hired as senior vice president of the company's closing department. According to Walker & Dunlop's recent release, Blake will manage the department, including all aspects of the loan closing process.

While the fall months look to be unprecedented for the housing market, LendingTree expects tight lending requirements will keep many borrowers from taking advantage.

A recent study from Heardable, Inc., revealed that Quicken Loans outpaces its lending competitors in strong branding through digital presence.

Tallying new residential sales for August, the latest report conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development showed a 27.7 percent increase in sales on a year-over-year basis. However, July numbers bested findings from August, with sales flagging 0.3 percent month-to-month. By region, results from the survey revealed that the West and the Northeast have experienced the strongest improvements in the number of new homes sold year-to-date as of August.

Homebuyers in Manhattan have the chance to live like a hip hop mogul, now that P. Diddy has listed his New York City apartment for $8.5 million. Calling it an "entertainer's dream," Zillow reports that the music man transitioned the three-bedroom property into a more open space, turning the pad into a one-bedroom abode with an enormous media and piano room.

The most recent Mortgage Litigation Index showed that legal activity in the industry slowed its pace between the final quarter of 2011 and the opening quarter of 2012. According to figures from the first-quarter of the year, the number of total lawsuits dropped from 244 to 216 between quarters. However, the index indicated that while case activity declined on a quarter-to-quarter basis, legal action was up year-over-year, with litigation related to compliance, loan titles, and whistleblower action displaying especially strong increases.

United Financial Bancorp, Inc., is losing its long-time chief operating officer and executive vice president. The company recently announced that COO and EVP Keith E. Harvey will retire, effective December 31, after having served United Financial for 28 years. United Financial's current chief lending officer (CLO) and EVP, J. Jeffrey Sullivan, will succeed Harvey as COO following his transition at the end of 2012. To fill Sullivan's previous role, United Financial has promoted Charles R. Valade as the bank's new CLO.

Redwood Trust, Inc., is making significant changes to its directorship, recently announcing the departure of current chairman of the board, George E. Bull, III, who officially stepped down from his leadership role on September 18. Following Bull's transition, Redwood unanimously elected Richard D. Baum as the company's new chairman for its board of directors.

Mortgage rates slid to new lows this week as investors dumped their cash into safe-haven Treasury debt, prompted by the Fed's decision to keep interest rates low for an unfixed time. Zillow found the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slipping past 3.2 percent for the first time to arrive at 3.18 percent, down from 3.35 percent on Wednesday last week. The real estate website said this marks the lowest rate for the 30-year home loan since 2008, when it launched its weekly survey. Interest rates for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 2.59 percent, while those for 5-year and 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.43 percent.

U.S. home prices continued to increase in July, according to Case Shiller. On Tuesday it revealed that its 20-city index up 1.6 percent from June and the 10-city index up 1.5 percent. The 10-city index rose to its highest level since November 2010 and the 20-city index to the highest level since October 2010. Prices rose in all of the 20 cities. Year-over-year, the 10-city index was up 0.6 percent and the 20-city index rose 1.2 percent. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the 20-city index to increase 1.7 percent from June.