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Citi released its quarterly earnings report Monday morning, posting net profit of $181 million—a decline of 96 percent compared to earnings of $4.2 billion a year ago. The second quarter's results include a $3.8 billion charge related to a $7.0 billion settlement with the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) Working Group, also announced early Monday.

In the midst of hurricane season, CoreLogic released its storm surge analysis for the year, counting more than 6.5 million homes at risk of hurricane damage and a total of $1.5 trillion in total reconstruction costs for these homes. Importantly, CoreLogic noted a large portion of homes susceptible to flood damage are not located within Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood zones and therefore are not required to carry flood insurance.

From April 2013 through March 2014, Chinese buyers accounted for 16 percent of foreign home sales, up from 12 percent in 2013. In dollar volume, China's share is higher, accounting for 24 percent of sales during that period. "Put another way, the value of homes bought by Chinese buyers in the US has increased from $1.2 [billion] to $7.5 [billion], or slightly more than 500 percent, over five years," said Paul Diggle at Capital Economics.

According to Trulia, asking prices on listed homes rose 1.2 percent month-to-month in June, the highest monthly increase in more than a year. Unfortunately, consumer incomes have failed to keep pace. Out of the top 10 markets for annual price gains in June—most of which were in the South or Midwest—Trulia found that wages per worker rose less than 1 percent last year in all but one.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Builder Applications Survey (BAS), a gauge of application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of homebuilders, suggests new home purchase applications slipped 5 percent from May to June, the group reported Thursday. The change does not include any adjustments for typical seasonal movements.

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.

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."

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."