Mortgage application volumes kicked off the month with a small increase as interest rates tumbled a few points, according to industry data. The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) weekly measure of mortgage applications rose 3.8 percent for the week ending October 3, the group reported Wednesday.

RedVision, an independent, nationwide provider of real property title data, search examination, and curative-ready solutions, appointed Leanne Zinn-Cox as EVP of sales and marketing.

According to results from Fannie Mae's September 2014 National Housing Survey, Americans' optimism about the housing market recovered last month following declines in both July and August, with the share of respondents saying now is a good time to buy a home jumping 4 percentage points to 68 percent. The share of consumers saying they would purchase a home if they were going to move also picked up, increasing 2 percentage points to 66 percent.

Including distressed sales, home prices nationwide rose 6.4 percent year-over-year in August, according to the latest report from CoreLogic. The increase marks 30 straight months of year-over-year price growth nationally. August's increase came in below July's rate of appreciation, which clocked in at 7.4 percent in CoreLogic's initial report for the month.

After slowing for the fourth straight month in August, the Federal Reserve's gauge of conditions in the labor market made a slight recovery in September. The Fed's labor market conditions index, which the central bank said it will now release on a monthly basis, added 2.5 points in September after increasing only 2 points in August—its lowest pace of growth in 13 months.

Meg Burns, former senior associate director for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), has signed on to the Washington, D.C.-based Collingwood Group as managing director, the company announced.

Despite inching closing to the tipping point, home prices still haven't reached a stage where fears of a bubble are justified, says Trulia. The company recently released its third quarter Bubble Watch report, which measures whether home prices are over- or undervalued relative to their fundamental value. Comparing current movements to long-term trends, the report suggests home prices nationally remain 3 percent undervalued.

International Document Services, Inc. (IDS), a Utah-based mortgage document preparation vendor, reported a spike in home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) through the year's first three quarters.

Midland States Bancorp, headquartered in Effingham, Illinois, will originate $8 million in mortgage loans in minority neighborhoods over the next three years to resolve charges that it previously avoided doing business or establishing branches in predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods in St. Louis and northern Illinois, according to an announcement from HUD.

Out of 884 community bankers currently active in the mortgage space, 31 percent expect their institution's residential mortgage holdings at the end of the year will be less than their level last year, according to findings released by the Federal Reserve and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. Of those who anticipate reductions in the dollar value of their mortgage holdings, most pointed to increased regulation and compliance costs at the reason.