According to CoreLogic's latest estimates, an additional 273,000 U.S. homes recovered to a positive equity position in Q3, bringing the total number of mortgaged homes with equity to approximately 44.6 million—about 90 percent of all mortgaged properties in the nation.

Less than a year after he first joined the company as national account executive, First Valuation announced this week the promotion of Jordan Wilde to the position of VP of sales and marketing.

LRES, a national firm specializing in residential and commercial valuations and asset management services, announced that Candice Merriweather has joined the team as VP and national sales manager.

Total mortgage application volumes, including both purchase loans and refinances, fell 9.1 percent over the two weeks ending January 2, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday. The results include adjustments for the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays.

The White House announced Wednesday that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will reduce mortgage insurance premiums in an effort to boost U.S. homeownership. The announcement is welcome news to many of housing's biggest trade organizations, who have been vocal in the past few months about the consequences of higher premiums.

Out of a group of 1,000 Americans polled in Fannie Mae's December National Housing Survey, 41 percent said they now believe the economy is "on the right track," up from 36 percent in November, the company reported. In contrast to December's slightly more positive economic attitudes, consumer sentiment toward the housing market remained subdued for another month.

In California, mortgage software and services provider Ellie Mae announced the promotion of Jonathan Corr to the position of CEO.

The new year brought with it a new mortgage servicing rights (MSR) opportunity for interested buyers: a GSE portfolio valued at $4.2 billion in aggregate unpaid principal balance. According to MountainView Servicing Group, the portfolio is entirely made up of fixed-rate and first-lien product and features low delinquencies.

LenderLive Network, an end-to-end mortgage services provider with headquarters in Denver, announced the hiring of Lorie Helms as chief information officer (CIO).

In its latest look at the RMBS segment, Fitch says that while the market still has some rebuilding left to do, it "has seen some rather substantial improvements of late," owing in large part to improved loan underwriting standards in recent years. According to the company, the performance of recent vintage mortgage loans is the best on record so far.