Headlines

Goldman Sachs won a class action lawsuit accusing the investment banking firm of knowingly selling toxic mortgage-backed securities to hedge fund Dodona I and other investors in 2007 before the financial crisis, according to media reports.

Homeowners continued to overvalue their homes for the seventh consecutive month in August when compared with appraiser opinions. Quicken Loans reported in their Home Price Perception Index that homeowner estimates were 2.65 percent higher than appraiser opinions, the largest gap in over a year.

Consumer attitudes toward the real estate market slid down in August due to economic concerns, Fannie Mae reported in their newly launched Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI). In August 2015, the HPSI fell 0.5 points from July to 80.8, Fannie Mae said. The sentiment level is also down from the peak reached in June 2015 of 84.7 and the index is up 5.3 points from August 2014.

Net equity among U.S. mortgage holders has increased by nearly $1 trillion in the last year, reaching the highest level since 2007, according to Black Knight Financial Services July 2015 Mortgage Monitor.

Although the rate hike is expected to occur at some point before the end of 2015, mortgage bankers indicate that the real estate market in 2016 will favor sellers.

U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, dismissed lawsuits filed by Ocwen Financial shareholders and Altisource Portfolio Solutions shareholders accusing the Atlanta-based servicer of fraud.

With fewer young careerists joining the residential valuations industry, real estate appraisers foresee a future where lenders and consumers alike face added costs and lengthened real estate delivery timelines due to a shortage of trained appraisers in the residential valuations space. This article examines how residential appraisers are defying the naysayers and fighting for their profession. Editor's note: This select print feature appears in the September 2015 edition of MReport magazine, available now.

The city of Los Angeles has dropped a lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase of discriminatory lending toward minority borrowers that drove up foreclosures.

Despite housing market challenges, U.S. state housing finance agencies remain financially sound as mortgage revenue bond issuance, net interest, median ratios, and other factors trend upward.

Job gains fell below expectations for the month of August, totaling less than 200,000, but wage growth finally began to show some upward pressure. However, analysts are still divided on whether it will be enough to convince the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in their September meeting.