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Both JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo posted strong financial results in the second quarter, with Chase experiencing a 5 percent jump in net income, according to earnings statements released by both banks on Tuesday. Chase's Q2 net income of $6.29 billion represented an increase of 5 percent from the same quarter a year ago, while the New York-based bank's period-end balance sheet was down $123 billion in the second quarter.

Investors bidding on properties online and at live events nationwide appear to prefer flipping these purchased properties more than renting them. Auction.com recently revealed the findings from its second quarter 2015 Real Estate Investor Activity Report, a nationwide survey of real estate investors.

Two hearings examining the activities of government agencies and two hearings covering the nation's monetary policy and economy will take place in Congress this week. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will be the lone witness in the two hearings on monetary policy.

Although home sales in the U.S. have reached their highest peak since 2007 during the first four months of 2015, foreign homebuyers are not adding to these growing sales. According to a blog by Frank Nothaft, CoreLogic’s chief economist, in relation to the same period one year ago, home sales jumped 9 percent with the help of lower fixed mortgage rates by one-half percentage point, but foreign buyers did not help with this increase.

The issuance of new U.S. prime jumbo residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) is set to exceed last year’s levels thanks to a strong second quarter of RMBS issuance, according to Fitch Ratings’ quarterly U.S. Prime Jumbo RMBS Trends report. The Fitch report notes that eight jumbo RMBS deals came to market in second-quarter 2015 from six issuers.

Witnesses at a recent House Financial Services Committee hearing testified the Dodd-Frank Act has "reduced financial stability" and made Americans worse off financially in the controversial law's first five years of existence. The hearing, titled "Dodd-Frank Five Years Later: Are We More Stable?" was the first in a series of three full Committee hearings to examine the impact Dodd-Frank has had on American consumers and the country's financial system and economy since President Obama signed it in to law in July 2010.

Like-kind exchanges in the real estate market are an important factor for property acquisition and disposal, and they also support the nation's financial growth, job creation, and economy, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

In the last eight years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have guaranteed at least half of all new mortgage originations. In a report released on Thursday by the Urban Institute (UI), authors Laurie Goodman, director of Housing Finance Policy Center at UI and Karan Kaul, a research associate at UI determined that the two GSEs play an important, indisputable part in the U.S. mortgage market, but also pose a huge risk to taxpayers.

Although Federal Reserve officials determined that economic activity is expanding moderately and job gains are increasing, the federal funds rate will remain the same at a target range of 0 to ¼ percent, according to the recent Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) June meeting.

Freddie Mac has added another innovation to its suite of credit risk transfer offerings. According to a recent press release, the Enterprise added its first two Agency Credit Insurance Structure (ACIS) transactions that provide coverage based on both first loss and actual losses realized on a reference pool of residential mortgages.