Lender Processing Services released a statement announcing today that the Real Estate Board of New York chose its MLS Portal to operate as the platform for its new Web site, which allows New Yorkers to search for homes.

In a statement released Monday, NDeX announced the appointment of its president and chief financial officer, Scott Goldstein, to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Advisory Council. Scott represents a combination of business savvy and economic vision that will prove to be a valuable resource in his role with the Fed, said James P.

On Monday the National Association of Home Builders reported an increasingly sunny outlook among single-family homebuilders, with a Housing Market Index jointly released by Wells Fargo signaling a 13-point rise in homebuilder confidence-an uptick from the three-point plunge in June. In July two of the three indexes saw surges, up from steady declines over May. Current sales conditions went up to 15 from two points-the same as in May-as sales expectations for the next six months jumped by 22 points.

President Barack Obama announced Sunday that he would withdraw Treasury Department advisor Elizabeth Warren for the top post at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and replace her with Richard Cordray.

On Thursday news reports confirmed that mortgage giant JPMorgan plans to scale back a $154 billion mortgage portfolio to a bare minimum on its balance sheets, even as it battles through continuing mortgage losses, multiple suits and settlements over past loan-servicing practices.

A report published by turnaround management firm Anderson Bauman Tourtellot Vos found that a recent move by the Obama administration to clear office space in Atlanta could strangle the city's still-recovering commercial real estate sector, potentially throwing back markets in a state with the fifth-largest amount of government real estate outside of Washington, D.C. The firm fears that a reduction in government-owned property will also crimp employment.

Fueling fears about a federal default scenario, fragile debt-ceiling negotiations continued to splinter and stagnate this week, with Republicans refusing to budge on proposed tax increases and Democrats fighting to keep entitlements off the chopping block. If trends continue and the federal government defaults on its national debt, housing economists and mortgage rate analysts predict spikes in interest and mortgage rates, with steep and potentially catastrophic declines in homes sales.

A monthly update from Capital Economics holds that small upticks in home prices and sales reflect anomalous behavior in the market, thanks in part to a generous seasonal uplift. The report predicts continued falls in home sales.

According to an announcement made Tuesday, WFG National Title Insurance hailed move-ups by two to its Louisiana agency division. Stephen Sklamba and Liz Pecoraro will take on new roles as VP and underwriting counsel and state sales manager, respectively. Stephen and Liz are well-established and highly regarded by a wide number of independent agencies in Louisiana, Charles Cain, SVP and agency manager, their new boss, said in a statement.

In a statement released Thursday, Global DMS announced that the Uniform Collateral Data Portal would now offer its appraisal process management software to lenders and appraisal companies.