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The mortgage lending division of Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, is expanding its offerings to include Streamline Federal Housing Administration (FHA) 203k loans through its retail and wholesale businesses.

The housing market in California's Southland region closed out 2012 with the highest number of December home sales in three years, real estate information company DataQuick reports. According to DataQuick, a total of 20,274 new and resale homes and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Orange counties in December. The month's total was 5.1 percent up from November and 5.3 percent up from December 2011.

Closing rates on all types of mortgage loans increased in December, according to data from Ellie Mae's Origination Insight Report.

Economic activity "expanded" in the closing weeks of 2012, the Federal Reserve said in its periodic Beige Book released Wednesday, reflecting a slow but steadily declining unemployment rate and low rates of inflation--conditions the Fed said would have to be met before it raises interest rates. According to the report, "real estate activity has expanded or held steady in 11 Districts for existing home sales and leasing; eight Districts for residential construction; 11 Districts for nonresidential sales and leasing; and nine Districts for nonresidential construction."

The CFPB's long-awaited qualified mortgage standards have been unveiled, and Capital Economics says the new rules "will not hamper the housing recovery."

According to its quarterly filing, JPMorgan took in $5.7 billion in net income during 2012's final quarter, up 53 percent from the same quarter in 2011. Revenue for the quarter was $24.4 billion, up 10 percent compared with the prior year. Much of that profit came on the bank of JPMorgan's strengthened mortgage business. The bank's mortgage banking division reported originations of $51.2 billion in Q4, up 33 percent year-over-year and 8 percent quarter-over-quarter.

Mortgage applications continue to perk up after ending 2012 on a low note, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. The Market Composite Index, a measure of application volume, increased 15.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ending January 11. On an unadjusted basis, the index was up 45 percent from the prior week. Purchase activity continued strong, with the Purchase Index rising 13 percent to its highest level since April 2011.

Rising demand and limited supply continued to drive home prices up in November, according to the latest Residential Price Index (RPI) data from FNC, Inc.

In St. Louis, Missouri, Mortgage Returns has launched a program to help lenders maximize customer retention.

Builder confidence stalled in January as the Housing Market Index (HMI) stood at 47, remaining at its highest level since April 2006, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported Wednesday. Economists had expected the index to tick up to 48. With the January report, the index remained below 50--the tipping point between a positive and negative market assessment--for the 81st straight month. The last time the HMI was above 50 was April 2006, when the reading was 51 and falling.