Headlines

A week after appearing before the Senate Banking Committee, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray traveled back up the hill again on Wednesday to review the bureau's semi-annual report and take questions from the House Financial Services Committee. At the hearing, committee members asked Cordray to address a number of issues surrounding the embattled agency.

The FOMC concluded its June meeting with the announcement that members have once again voted to bring down the Federal Reserve's stimulative monthly asset purchases. Taking a cue from improvements in labor market indicators, household spending, and general economic activity, the committee members voted to reduce the Fed's monthly purchase of agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to a combined $35 billion per month.

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC) announced the addition of two industry professionals to help advance the company’s business and product development efforts.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a seasonally adjusted 9.2 percent decline in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 13. On an unadjusted basis, the group's application index was down 10 percent over the week. The drop reverses an adjusted 10.3 percent increase reported the week prior and accompanies a slight rise in average 30-year fixed rates to 4.36 percent.

SunTrust Banks announced it has struck a nearly $1 billion deal with the government to settle allegations of misconduct in its lending and servicing practices. In an agreement reached with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Justice Department, HUD, and attorneys general in 49 states and the District of Columbia, SunTrust agreed to provide relief to consumers and payments to the government totaling a combined value of $968 million.

Despite earning record incomes in 2013, neither Fannie nor Freddie are in the clear financially yet, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said in its latest review of the two GSEs. "The Enterprises remain exposed to credit, counterparty and operational risks. Credit risk management remains a key priority for both Enterprises given their substantial amount of remaining legacy distressed assets and ongoing stress in certain housing markets," FHFA said.

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, the president's pick to replace Shaun Donovan as secretary of HUD, appeared to breeze through his first nomination challenge Tuesday as he fielded questions from the Senate Banking Committee. Facing questions from the group of senators, Castro addressed the current stability and role of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which had to take a $1.7 billion bailout last year for the first time in its history.

Examining multiple listing service data in 37 cities across the United States, real estate site Movoto.com reported 104,157 listings available on the market, a 15.4 percent jump from 90,264 a year prior. "By comparison, the total inventory index actually decreased by 22.9 percent between May 2012 and May 2013," wrote Randy Nelson, content manager at Movoto, in the company's blog.

CoreLogic's CFO will expand his leadership role in the company by also taking on the duties of COO, the company announced.

According to figures released by the Census Bureau and HUD, privately owned housing starts last month were at an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of just more than 1 million, down 6.5 percent from April's slightly revised estimate of 1.07 million. The government's report presented mixed news on the single-family front: While starts were down nearly 6 percent to a rate of 625,000, April construction was stronger than originally reported.