Origination

While the national homeownership rate sat at a disappointing 65 percent as of the end of 2013's second quarter, data collected and published by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows local market conditions have created a huge gap between state homeownership figures. In a blog for the association, Ken Fears, NAR's manager of regional economics and housing finance policy, notes that the dispersion ranges equally around the national average, with a gap of 22.4 percentage points between the top and bottom states.

Churchill Mortgage, a Tennessee-based provider of conventional and government-insured residential mortgages across 30 states, named Cara Costa as its newest VP of operations.

The Conference Board released on Tuesday its Consumer Confidence Index for August, showing a slight upward tick following July's decline. According to the latest update, the index now stands at 81.5, up half a point from July. Lynn Franco, director of economist indicators for the Conference Board, said the increase was "a result of improving short-term expectations." On the other hand, consumer opinions regarding the present economic climate were less charitable.

After observing a slowdown in sales throughout June--typically the peak selling month for the year--online brokerage Redfin reported a rebound in July, though other market indicators continue to cool. According to Redfin's data, "this July saw a healthy jump in homes sold throughout most of the 19 markets covered in this report," improving 3 percent month-over-month and 17.6 percent year-over-year from a rather disappointing July 2012. At the same time, reports on home price growth and inventory were less positive in July.

Home prices rose in June to their highest levels in almost five years, increasing 2.2 percent, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday.

Housing continued to lean strongly toward a sellers' market in July, with time on market falling and prices becoming more favorable for sellers, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The survey shows the average number of weeks a home spent on the market in the three-month period ending July was 8.6 weeks, while the average sales-to-list-price ratio was 98 percent. California performed exceptionally well in all categories, while parts of the Midwest underperformed.

National home prices rose 1.2 percent month-over-month to $229,000 in June, according to Lender Processing Services' Home Price Index (HPI). Out of the 40 large metro areas LPS tracks, three in Texas reached new highs: Austin ($237,000), Dallas ($182,000), and Houston ($181,000). Denver also established a new high-water mark of $265,000. At the same time, San Antonio is just 0.3 percent below its August 2007 peak, while Honolulu sits 2.1 percent below its 2007 peak.

Loretta Kirkwood, an executive with experience in regulatory compliance and risk management, has taken a managing director role at CrossCheck Compliance, LLC, the Chicago-based company announced.

According to a report from Bloomberg, "people with knowledge of the matter" said Wells Fargo is removing 2,300 jobs--about 20 percent of its 11,406 loan officers as of March 31. In its story, Bloomberg cited an internal memo written by Franklin Codel, head of mortgage production at Wells Fargo, in which he noted that refinances have fallen to nearly half of total loan share--down from 70 percent in the year's first half. As a result, Codel said, the bank has "had to recalibrate [its] business to meet customers' needs."

Vacancy rates in commercial real estate (CRE) markets are projected to continue declining at a moderate pace as rent grows modestly.