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Despite an unfulfilling jobs report that left housing industries with flat feet, independent mortgage banks found reason to celebrate with a windfall in profit on second-quarter loans. Mortgage banks on average scored $575 for each loan, reflecting increases from $346 per loan over the first quarter this year, according to a performance report released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Companies saw their loan volume jump from $164 million on average over the first quarter to $174 million.

The economy shed as many employees as it brought on in August, leading to a startling net gain of zero jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis. Housing sectors showed no immunity to fears of a recession and slowdown.

Housing market conditions remained fragile despite numerous initiatives put forward by the Obama administration, according to a recent scorecard released Thursday by HUD and the Treasury Department. The administration cited numerous industry-respected analytics sources and painted a helpful portrait of the homeownership and refinance endeavors it has made possible. Sources polled for the government gauge of housing and economic health included CoreLogic and Standard & Poor's, among others.

Lewisville, Texas, will gain 700 new employment opportunities courtesy of JPMorgan Chase & Co. The financial institution is set to open a major mortgage servicing center in the area, adding to 2,000 area workers.

Mortgage rates either stayed the same or plunged to record lows, depending on where market watchers obtained their news Thursday. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac and personal finance Web site Bankrate.com released separate figures, with the former seeing a static 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and the latter finding a new bottom for the benchmark loan. The 30-year loan went bottoms up, according to Bankrate.com, which posted a 4.37-percent low, down from 4.41 percent from the week earlier.

Private holding company JGWPT, which recently announced the acquisition of J.G. Wentworth and Peachtree Financial Solutions, has made another advancement, with the launch of its reverse mortgage division. The newly formed reverse mortgage segment will operate as part of the Peachtree group of companies and will be based in Boynton Beach.

Home prices went up across the country in July, marking the fourth consecutive such month, according to a home price index released Wednesday by CoreLogic. While acknowledging the improvement as a net gain for the housing economy, the firm made predictions that home prices will slump on continuing news about an economic slowdown. CoreLogic found that home prices crawled forward by 0.8 percent month-over-month but fell year-over-year by 5.2 percent over July.

On the heels of attempts by investors to derail a mega settlement in the courts, Bank of America continued to shake up headlines Wednesday with multiple news outlets confirming that the mortgage giant plans to sell off its share of the correspondent mortgage market. With mortgage correspondents in the bank├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós unit set to soon receive their pink slips, multiple news outlets quoted suggested that some 3,500 could feel impact in their jobs. New job losses would follow recently reported second-quarter fallout.

With its recent participation in a major commercial mortgage loan securitization, Starwood Property Trust, Inc. is enhancing its debt-related funding. The transaction, led by Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc., included four first mortgage loans contributed by Starwood, which when combined carried an aggregate principal balance of $154.

Fewer homebuyers filed for mortgage loans last week, with applications falling on average by 9.6 percent from the week before, according to a weekly survey released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.