Government

ClosingCorp, a leading provider of residential real estate closing cost data and technologies for mortgage and real estate professionals, announced Mark Nogaki has joined the company as SVP of sales.

GPE Companies, a Phoenix-based commercial real estate and property management services provider, announced it has been selected as one of the Valley's "Best Places to Work" in 2012 by the Phoenix Business Journal.

Existing-home sales rose 5.9 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million, the highest level since November 2009, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. Economists had expected the sales pace to improve to 4.9 million. The increase in sales in November was the fourth in the last six months, following a similar pattern from 2011. According to the NAR's data, November existing-home sales--closed transactions--were up 14.5 percent from one year earlier.

Collecting data from the company's 45-member Construction Users Roundtable (CURT), FMI released the results of its most recent study on the sector.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance increased 17,000 to 361,000 for the week ending December 15, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected claims to increase to 359,000. The previous week's report was revised upward to 344,000 from the originally reported 343,000.

Despite a continuing surge in builder confidence, housing starts dropped 3.0 percent in November to 861,000, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reported jointly Wednesday. Single-family starts dropped 4.1 percent in November, accounting for most of the drop in total starts. Activity was unaffected by superstorm Sandy, which hit the Northeast at the end of October, as most of the drop in single-family starts came in the West and Midwest.

Freddie Mac CFO Ross J. Kari is making plans to retire in the second half of 2013, the GSE announced. While Kari has not yet selected an official date to depart from Freddie Mac, he informed the company he intends to retire in the latter half of the year following his 55th birthday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has assembled a GSE Single Family Task Force to revisit the association's 2009 proposal for the future of the secondary market and to further discourse on this topic. The task force will work in two phases. First, they will review the 2009 position and determine potential issues during a transition. Next, they will put together a "roadmap" for the transition.

Weeks after HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan defended her performance in front of a Senate banking committee, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Acting Commissioner Carol Galante may have earned a new ally on Capitol Hill. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) announced he "feels comfortable supporting [Galante's] bid to become FHA commissioner after receiving a letter detailing her commitment to reforming FHA's underwriting requirements and restoring its Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund to health.

RES.NET is expanding beyond the world of defaults and into the realm of traditional real estate, the company announced. Originally introduced in 2004 as a technology solution for the default space, the California-based firm has evolved its platform to enhance retail (or traditional) real estate transactions.