Mortgage application volume ticked down by 5 percent from the week before, with the refinance share of activity deflating sharply. The Mortgage Bankers Association adjusted the latest numbers to account for the Martin Luther King holiday in a Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey it released Wednesday. The refinance share of mortgage activity contracted by a sizeable 81.3 percent of total application volume, corresponding with a dip by 5.2 percent for the Refinance Index. Interest rates for mortgage loans by and large went up.

After falling to new lows last week, interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages climbed to 3.82 percent, real estate Web site Zillow said Tuesday. The Web site polled anonymous quotes from online users to release the latest Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, which it offers weekly. While the 30-year loan averaged 3.8 percent, the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage hovered around 3.12 percent. Mortgage rates have remained near all-time lows as investors continue to flee from European markets, which remain afflicted by concerns over their debt crises.

An awkward and slightly tense air greeted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray at his first congressional hearing Tuesday, where the new appointee cast his agency as one that would strive to reduce duplication and increase transparency. Although careful in their approach to the new director, Republican committee members frequently cited their concerns about federal overreach, the constitutionality of his recess appointment, and interests for transparency. The CFPB can now supervise nonbank financial entities.

Candidates for the Republican presidential nomination roundly criticized Freddie Mac Monday, taking swipes at rival and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for services he rendered to the mortgage company as an independent contractor in 2006. Yesterday The Gingrich Group ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô founded by its namesake and currently doing business as the Center for Health Transformation ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô revealed that Freddie Mac paid Gingrich $25,000 in monthly fees for consulting services he rendered to the mortgage company as an independent contractor.

A former company executive previously convicted of $100 million in mortgage fraud saw his name on our mortgage fraud blotter for his role in orchestrating an attempted hit from prison, right next to a loan officer sentenced to jail time for taking in $2.5 million in a reverse mortgage plot. First up, the Justice Department offered the account of a Florida loan officer, Louis Gendason, sentenced by a federal judge to 70 months in the slammer for coordinating a reverse mortgage fraud scheme that targeted elderly borrowers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission signed an agreement Monday to eliminate regulatory overlap by frequently sharing information about investigations and rulemaking proposals. A Memorandum of Understanding obliges the agencies to meet no less than once quarterly to share information, notify each other of action pending against entities, and coordinate training exercises for examiners and personnel. The agreement fulfills provisions under the Dodd-Frank Act that charge the agencies with signing a memorandum.

Presidential hopefuls remain quiet on subjects related to housing finance reform ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô except when it comes to politics. With former House Speaker Newt Gingrich trumping former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary Saturday, the latter went on the attack Monday by reportedly criticizing his opponent for a $1.6-million contract he signed with Freddie Mac to advise the GSE at one time. These rows touch offer the only debate for candidates over housing, signaling only peripheral discussion of a still-lagging sector.

Three new banks went under Friday, marking the first for 2012 since state and federal regulators closed 92 financial institutions last year. State regulators in Florida and Georgia shuttered Central Florida State Bank and The First State Bank in Belleview and Stockbridge, respectively. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed American Eagle Savings Bank in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania. The latest bank failures mark the first three for 2012. Last year saw 92 closures nationally, while 2010 bore witness to 157 bank failures.

Mark another big team-up for mortgage pricing company LoanSifter. On Wednesday the company announced that it will now include price quotes for Radian Guaranty Inc. in its pricing engine. The price quote from Radian will appear in LoanSifter's mortgage insurance best execution pricing platform. This is the next big thing for LoanSifter, which recently signed a deal with Google that allows it to facilitate comparison of loan products among many providers via a new technology platform.

Ahead of the primary in South Carolina Saturday, Republican presidential hopefuls will compete for the chance for a face off with President Barack Obama ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô a contest remarkably lacking in housing proposals for one that will take place in 15 battleground states with slipshod home values. The Progressive Policy Institute issued a policy brief Friday that said home values have fallen by 16 percent since October 2008, and that ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô despite a correspondingly steep drop in household wealth ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô few voters should expect candidates from either party to address housing finance reform in the election.