Headlines

Less than two months after the San Antonio mayor's nomination for the post, the Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Julian Castro as HUD secretary as current cabinet member Shaun Donovan is poised to take over the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The body voted 71-26 to confirm Castro, a Democrat whose star has been on the rise since he delivered the opening keynote at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Hamilton Group Funding, a privately held mortgage banking firm with headquarters in Florida, announced the hiring of Eduardo Paras as regional VP as the company continues its expansion efforts.

Mortgage application activity strengthened last week on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, getting a boost from higher purchase loan volumes. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage applications increased a holiday-adjusted 1.9 percent for the week ending July 4. The last time applications rose was early June, shortly after the Memorial Day holiday.

As the housing recovery downshifts from last year's pace, the latest survey of real estate agents by national brokerage Redfin finds homebuyers and sellers are having trouble getting on the same page with each other and with the new shape of the market.

Despite the best efforts of the federal government to allow those with dented and troubled credit to continue having access to mortgage loans, tight credit restrictions are still slowing the national housing recovery, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

JMAC Lending, a wholesale and correspondent lender operating out of California, announced the appointment of Al Crisanty as VP of national wholesale production.

According to a profile of international homebuying activity released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), total international home sales were estimated at $92.2 billion from April 2013 through March 2013, up from the previous period's level of $68.2 billion.

As home prices continue to rise—albeit slower than last year—many commentators insist that fears of a new bubble in the making are overblown. However, a new survey released Tuesday suggests lenders aren't buying it. In a survey of U.S. and Canadian mortgage lenders, FICO found 56 percent of respondents directly involved in the industry are concerned that "an unsustainable real estate bubble is inflating."

Activity in the secondary mortgage market picked up modestly in June, but FBR Capital Markets warns lenders against celebrating just yet. Based on the total issuance of $211 billion in the second quarter, the investment firm estimates total originations were $264 billion for the quarter, just above the $263 billion estimate.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Tuesday a 0.6 percent increase in its Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) from May to June, putting the index at 115.8. The group links the increase in the headline index to "a slight net loosening in lender criteria regarding Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans with respect to minimum credit scores and maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratios."