In Dallas, insurance claims management firm Dimont & Associates announced it is once again operating as an independent company, ending its affiliation with Wingspan Portfolio Holdings.

In its announcement, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) said it established the task force as a response to the explosive growth of non-bank servicers like Ocwen Financial and Nationstar Mortgage, both of which have moved to snap up servicing rights from depository firms and climb the ranks of the nation's biggest outfits.

A new mortgage servicing rights (MSR) portfolio has hit the market, this one valued at more than $1 billion in unpaid principal balance. According to an announcement from MountainView Servicing Group, which is advising on the sale, the latest offering contains mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae, 97 percent of which are fixed-rate and all of which are first-lien loans.

Former OneWest Bank vice chairman Brian P. Brooks is joining Fannie Mae as EVP, general counsel, and corporate secretary, according to an announcement from the company.

According to a report released this week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), total refinance volumes at Fannie and Freddie came to 131,075 in August, up more than 11,000 from July as mortgage rates slipped slightly to an average 4.12 percent. While overall refinancing activity increased, however, the number of refinances completed through HARP fell again to a combined 14,066—accounting for about 11 percent of total volume compared to July's 13 percent.

MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey shows mortgage application volumes jumped 11.6 percent for the week ending October 17. The surge in the headline index stemmed from a substantial jump in the refinance application component, which was up 23 percent week-over-week to hit its highest level since November 2013.

Florida Realtors reported that closed sales of single-family homes came to 20,792 last month, an increase of 13.5 percent over September 2013. Meanwhile, the statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in September was $180,000, up 5.9 percent from the previous year.

According to Platinum Data Solutions, a collateral valuation technology provider, more than 17 percent of appraisals on purchase transactions report a value less than that of the contract price. Platinum Data CEO Phil Huff said the findings point to two possibilities.

Private mortgage insurance provider Arch Mortgage Insurance Company is partnering with Ellie Mae to offer lenders a more streamlined mortgage insurance ordering process, the companies announced.

The so-called qualified residential mortgage (QRM) rule, which was put up for consideration by FDIC's board of directors Tuesday morning, would require banks to retain at least 5 percent of a loan's risk when packing mortgages to sell to investors in the secondary market. The QRM rule is one of the bigger provisions mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, with co-author Barney Frank remarking in the past that risk retention is "the single most important part of the bill."