Financial reform advocates have two birthdays to celebrate on Saturday. This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of the watchdog Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the two-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, the sweeping financial reform law that spawned it. Their stories run parallel to each other ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô and rightly so. The consumer bureau squeaked past partisan gridlock this time last year, just one year after Democrats, then in the majority of both houses of Congress, cleared Dodd-Frank for the president├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós signature.

Rising home prices and sales signal that the housing recovery may finally be underway, according to RE/MAX. The real estate company released a housing report Tuesday that found closed transactions up 2.1 percent from May and 5 percent from June year-over-year. These figures made June the twelfth straight month for higher transactions. Of 53 metro areas surveyed by the company, 31 offered up increases for both sales and prices. Available homes for sale fell 5 percent from May and 27.4 percent from June last year.

More underwater borrowers are choosing to refinance their mortgages under the Home Affordable Refinance Program than at any time since the government program launched in 2009, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The regulatory agency released a report Monday that found total refinance volume up by 20 percent in May. The reasons why? According to the FHFA, record-low interest rates for 30-year fixed-mortgages couple with recent modifications to HARP to create the conditions for a refi boom.

Rallying investors by end of day Friday, JPMorgan Chase posted strong earnings from the second-quarter, with Home Affordable Refinance Program modifications helping boost income for the laggardly mortgage servicing unit year-over-year. For mortgage production and servicing, the financial institution fielded $604 million in net income over the second quarter, a figure that trumps a net loss of $649 million from the past year. Mortgage production rose to $931 million in pretax income for the lender.

Wells Fargo wrote a check for $175 million on Thursday to settle claims that independent brokers drove a disproportionate number of otherwise creditworthy minority borrowers to higher-priced variable mortgages in the lead-up to the financial crisis. Wells Fargo denied any of the claims and took action Thursday to stop originating loans with independent mortgage brokers by Friday, a move that it billed as one separate from the settlement and ensuing controversy. The lender will work to close and process existing applications after Friday.

Despite fears of an economic slowdown, more Americans feel confident about the housing recovery, with 72 percent of survey respondents recently affirming their belief that the real estate market will recover over the next two years. Releasing their quarterly survey, Irvine, California-based Brookfield Real Estate and Relocation Affiliates, Inc., also found that 69 percent of respondents believe that real estate still makes for a sound investment despite market volatility, an increase by 6 percentage points from the first quarter. More Americans also seem to feel more favorably about the housing market.

Mortgage applications fell 2.1 percent from the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group found declines for applications amid new historic lows for mortgage rates. According to the MBA, average contract interest rates for home loans broke new records across the board. New lows for interest rates included the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with conforming balances (3.79 percent), the 30-year loan with jumbo loan balances (4.05 percent), and the 15-year loan (3.15 percent). Five-year and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages likewise fell to a new low of 2.71 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slumped back to a new, record-breaking low, as manufacturing fell behind and more investors turned to the safe haven of Treasury debt. Zillow found that interest rates for the loan fell to 3.43 percent, beating a previous low of 3.48 percent for the real estate Web site and setting a new record since it started reporting interest rates in 2008. Interest rates for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.87 percent, while those for 5- and 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages hovered at 2.43 percent.

If it becomes law, a Senate bill could increase the number of homeowners who refinance under the Home Affordable Refinance Program by up to 13 million. That's the consensus reached by professors with Columbia University Business School, which released the study on Thursday. The study sketched the likely effects of a bill recently co-sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer and Robert Menendez. Researchers said that new HARP modifications could lead to roughly $35 billion in savings for homeowners, a number that could help stem the rate of foreclosure activity nationally.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces a new legal challenge as a Texas community bank and two conservative groups launch a lawsuit to undo it and the financial reform law that created it two years ago. The Big Spring, Texas-based State National Bank recently paired with the Competitive Enterprise Institute and 60 Plus Association to sue the embattled consumer bureau in federal court. The suit challenges the constitutionality of the CFPB and Dodd-Frank Act, as well as Richard Cordray's appointment.