According to Fitch Ratings' latest quarterly index, prepayment rates among U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) have declined to the lowest levels of the post-crisis era. Fitch Ratings' director Sean Nelson ...

Axios Valuation Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of eMortgage Logic, has been named as an approved appraisal management company (AMC) by Flagstar Bank.

With all of its ups and downs in recent months, the housing market is looking "noisy" heading into spring, Freddie Mac says. "We're getting mixed signals as we start the spring home buying season. Tight inventory may pose a significant challenge for home buyers in many markets across the country, which may result in higher home prices and sales being lower than expected," said Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist.

PNC Financial Services Group released its quarterly earnings, reporting a net income of $1.1 billion, or $1.82 per diluted common share. The group found that consumer lending decreased by $1 billion, from "lower home equity, residential mortgage and education loans as well as seasonal declines in credit card loans partially offset by growth in automobile loans."

RealtyTrac estimates 9.1 million U.S. homes were seriously underwater in the year's first quarter, representing a slow improvement over the past few years. "U.S. homeowners are continuing to recover equity lost during the Great Recession, but the pace of that recovering equity slowed in the first quarter, corresponding to slowing home price appreciation," said Daren Blomquist, VP at RealtyTrac.

Jersey Shore State Bank, a subsidiary of Penns Woods Bancorp, Inc., was recognized by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) for its 2013 performance. The bank's mortgage services division received a high producer ranking of PHFA loans in Pennsylvania, top lender in PHFA HOMEstead loans, and the top producer of new PHFA construction loans.

George Demopulos, president and chief valuation officer for Lincoln Appraisal & Settlement Services (LASS), has accepted a two-year term on a subcommittee for the Appraisal Subcommittee.

In a release issued late Monday, tech firm Ellie Mae acknowledged that a network outage in early April did not stem from a possible cyber-attack as originally thought. Instead, the downtime was "triggered by a confluence of factors involving network, hardware, software and demand for service." The company also commented that it has taken steps to prevent future incidents.

Matt Hunoval, founder of the Charlotte-based Hunoval Law firm, has been appointed by Governor Pat McCrory to serve as a member of North Carolina’s State Banking Commission.

It would appear that the Silver State is slowly making a comeback, according to a new report from Wells Fargo’s Economics Group. Overall, the group believes that Nevada's housing market is on the right track, fueled by rising employment, higher incomes, and a rapidly increasing population. However, inventories "will have to come down further before residential construction can really take off."