The latest data from OCC shows that out of a portfolio totaling 23.6 million loans with a combined unpaid principal balance of about $4.0 billion (about 46 percent of residential mortgages in the U.S.), the percentage of current and performing mortgages increased both quarter-over-quarter (from 92.9 percent to 93.0 percent) and year-over-year (from 91.4 percent to 93.0 percent) in Q3.

The letter, co-authored by Senators Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Mark Kirk (R-Illinois), states that "(t)he proposed rule affects long-standing membership rules for the Federal Home Loan Bank system and will negatively affect new and current members in the system." Twenty-five other senators signed the letter.

Economists at Fannie Mae are forecasting full-year growth of 2.1 percent for 2014, a full point below 2013's rate of growth, due to the reverse in the final quarter of some unsustainable forces that boosted the economy in the third quarter. However, the group is predicting economic growth of 2.7 percent for 2015.

The possibility of a high return on investment has given institutional investors the opportunity and motivation to cash out, RealtyTrac says in a new report. To examine the return on investment institutional investors could receive by selling off now, the company analyzed more than 200,000 purchases made by institutional investors made in the last few years.

In its last outlook of the year, Freddie Mac looked back at five key consensus predictions for 2014, how they fared, and how they will affect housing and the economy next year. In addition to home sales, the four other areas examined were mortgage originations, home values, rental market, and mortgage rates.

Henderson, Nevada-based real estate technology company RIO Genesis Software Solutions, Inc., announced the hiring of industry veteran Jaysen Greenleaf as VP of business development.

The internal review group for the New York-based megabank asserted in the third Chase Consumer Relief Update, compiled by monitor Joseph A. Smith Jr., that Chase has earned $2.2 billion in consumer relief credit from the period of October 1, 2013, to September 30, 2014.

In its latest forecast, Wells Fargo's Economics Group cited a number of reasons optimistic housing market predictions for next year, namely easing of credit, job and income growth, and mortgage rates near their lowest levels in a generation.

U.S. Representative Ed Royce (R-California), a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, has issued a statement calling the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)'s announcement that the Agency will divert GSE money to the Housing Trust Fund and Capital Magnet Fund "outrageous."

Fannie Mae has expanded its risk sharing offerings with Wednesday's announcement of a credit insurance risk transfer (CIRT) deal, which transfers the credit risk on a pool of loans from the taxpayers to a panel of domestic reinsurers. The new deal fulfills one of the 2014 Conservatorship Scorecard goals, which was to complete a variety of risk sharing transactions.