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As the rest of the housing market struggled in the year's first half, so too did the title insurance industry, Fitch Ratings reported in a new analysis. Isolating business at the nation's four largest title insurers, analysts at Fitch calculated a combined 12 percent decline in operating revenues through the first six months of 2014 compared to the same period last year.

Loan risk in the mortgage market slid down again in July but remained far above safe levels, according to the latest measure from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). The group reported that 11.41 percent of home purchase loans measured in its National Mortgage Risk Index (NMRI) would be at serious risk under "severely stressed" economic conditions.

Black Knight Financial Services reported Monday a 5.5 percent annual increase in its Home Price Index (HPI) for June, bringing the index to a value of $241,000 based on transactions throughout the month. June's improvement compares to increases of 5.9 percent, 6.4 percent, and 7.0 percent recorded in May, April, and March, respectively.

In a release on Monday, the Commerce Department estimated new home sales last month were at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 412,000, a decline of 2.4 percent month-over-month. June sales received a slight upward revision to a rate of 422,000, while May sales were also bumped up in a second revision to 454,000—still far below the 504,000 originally reported by the government.

Before implementation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's qualified mortgage (QM) and ability-to-repay rules, many industry analysts expressed concerns over the ultimate impact of these rules on mortgage lending and access to credit. Now that the rules have been in effect several months, the debate over the impact of these rules has only intensified.

Nationwide sales of flipped homes dropped both quarter-over-quarter and year-over year in the second quarter of 2014 as profit margins shrank, according to RealtyTrac. About 31,000 homes were flipped—bought and sold again within 12 months—in Q2, the company reported, accounting for 4.6 percent of all single-family home sales in the United States.

Harris Interactive surveyed 1,462 homeowners for Century 21, capturing the look at singles from 675 participants. According to the poll, 45 percent of singles between ages 25 and 50 considered homeownership "very important." Single homeowners considered homeownership an important financial investment. Century 21 President and CEO Rick Davidson described the numbers as a "shift in the home-buying population" when it came to singles.

The latest conundrum in the U.S. housing market appears to be that while homes in 94 percent of the country's top metro areas are more affordable than they've ever been, rents are so high that renters in 88 percent of those metros can't afford to save up enough for a down payment to buy a home. According to Zillow's July Real Estate Market Report, a mere 12 metros out of the top 100 in the U.S. feature an affordable market for housing and rentals.

Leading economic indicators in the United States experienced a sharp increase in July, signaling what analysts hope will be a stronger second half of 2014. The Conference Board's Leading Economic Index (LEI) rose 0.9 percent last month to 103.3, building on improvements of 0.6 percent in both May and June.

Average fixed mortgage rates drifted down again this week, sinking to their lowest level so far this year. Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average fixed interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) was 4.10 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending August 21, down 2 basis points from last week's average. The previous 2014 low was 4.12 percent, first seen in late May and then again three more times throughout the summer.