Headlines

The April 2015 First-Time Buyer Mortgage Risk Index (FBMRI) for Agency loans increased by nearly a full percentage point year-over-year up to 15.28 percent, indicating that those mortgage loans are moving deeper into the high-risk category, according to data released this week by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)'s International Center on Housing Risk.

California-based online real estate marketplace, Auction.com, has announced the addition of former LinkedIn and Yahoo! Engineer Lawrence Yuan as senior director of engineering.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) quarterly House Price Index (HPI), U.S. house prices increased 1.3 percent in Q1 2015. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices also indicated in their monthly report that home prices continued rise for March 2015.

Credit Plus Inc., a provider of intelligent insight for mortgage professionals based in Salisbury, Maryland, has announced in a press release that Colleen Knapp will be joining their sales team as SVP, national product specialist.

Capital One Financial Corporation has chosen Desmond P. Smith to be the company’s new head of sales for Capital One Home Loans based in New York City, according to a press release. His new role will consist of building a mortgage sales team throughout the company’s branch footprint.

Using two both new home sales figures and new home sales share, CoreLogic determined that eight out of the 10 hottest markets for new home sales are located in the South, let by Nashville, Tennessee, at 17 percent year-over-year growth.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen confirmed in speech held today at the Providence Chamber of Commerce in Providence, Rhode Island, that interest rates will likely increase later this year due to the gradual improvement in the economy.

According to Auction.com’s, LLC Real Estate Nowcast for May, despite an unexpected drop in April, existing-home sales in May are expected to pick up and fall between seasonally adjusted annual rates of 5.03 and 5.34 million annual sales, with a goal of 5.18 million. This is a 2.9 percent increase from April and a 5.8 percent increase from a year ago.

The National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST) announced in a press release that Robert Grossinger will be the new president of the organization, effective immediately.

Consumers' conservative financial behavior suggests modest economic growth for the remainder of the year, though the housing industry appears to be gaining momentum, according to Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group's May 2015 Economic Outlook released Thursday.