Government

Nationally, asking prices increased 9.5 percent year-over-year in May, but in the ten least affordable metros, asking prices spiked 16.3 percent during the same time period.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced the nomination of Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson to be its vice chair for the 2014 membership year.

Mortgage Contracting Services (MCS) announced the promotion of Wade Petty and Marie Walters to VP of finance and controller/assistant VP, respectively.

According to Fannie Mae's May 2013 National Housing Survey, Americans expressed record confidence in price gains, with 55 percent--a survey high--saying they believe prices will go up in the next year. Only 7 percent of respondents in the survey expect prices to drop, the lowest level since the survey's inception. In addition, the average 12-month home price chance expectation was 3.9 percent, the highest level in the survey's history and a leap over April's 2.7 percent forecast.

The Community Mortgage Lenders of America (CMLA) unveiled the Community Mortgage Lenders Act of 2013, a piece of legislation designed to spur lending, maintain effective consumer protections, and remove what the group calls "excessive regulations aimed for other parts of the market." Under the proposed legislation, "responsible" community lenders (defined as those who have no history or predatory or abusive loan practices and whose product predominantly falls under the qualified mortgage criteria) would be exempt from several rules.

Vericrest Financial, Inc., a financial services company with centers in Texas, Oklahoma, and California, announced it has changed its corporate name to Caliber Home Loans, Inc., effective immediately.

When President George W. Bush followed his predecessor Bill Clinton in pushing homeownership, one loud dissenter was British economist Andrew Oswald, who argued that far from improving the economy--as Bush (and Clinton before him) said it would--homeownership hurts the economy in the long run. Now, Oswald and Dartmouth Economics Professor David Blanchflower are at it again in a new paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research with arguments even they admit may be shallow.

Informative Research, a mortgage information services provider based in Garden Grove, California, appointed Stan Baldwin as COO.

FDIC's failed bank tally rose to 15 as an institution in Las Vegas shut down, the agency announced.

To better gauge the future of homeownership and the current shift toward renting, Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey took a look at renter attitudes and preferences in Q3 2012 to get an idea of their aspirations and expectations. According to the findings, the majority of respondents believe renting has its advantages in terms of current finances and stress. However, when asked about control, privacy, security, and financial prospects, the vast majority (64 percent and up across each question) said owning is the better choice.