Government

New York City and London are playing home to Mexico's annual housing and economic forum, which seeks to provide information on the country's housing and mortgage industries.

Canadian real estate investment company Timbercreek Asset Management is expanding its global focus stateside, with the launch of the company's New York City location. Timbercreek manages approximately $2 billion in assets through its private and publicly-traded real estate-focused funds, and the company's New York launch follows the opening of Timbercreek offices in Switzerland. Leading Timbercreek's push into new markets are three former employees of Citigroup's real estate unit.

Illinois financial institution New City Bank has closed its door, and the FDIC revealed that it has been unable to find a financial institution to take over the bank's operations.

In Minnesota, a former house flipper was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for his role in a real estate investment scheme, topping the weekly fraud blotter for TheMReport.com. The hefty sentence for Robert W. Dufrense, Jr., who is accused of bilking more than $5 million out of investors across multiple states, was more elaborate than expected due to an additional charge for obstructing justice. Dufresne was originally convicted of one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering for a house-flipping scam.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported data that indicates nationwide employment gains during February, with the country adding 227,000 jobs during the month.

A new real estate investment trust (REIT) team has been appointed at MLV & Co. The recently launched company division will be led by Ryan Meliker, who will serve as MLV's senior REIT analyst.

Fannie Mae rolls out an initiative to make loan-level data for single-family mortgage-backed securities (MBS) accessible and transparent; the GSE will begin releasing data during Q1.

According to data released today by the U.S. Department of Labor, first time claims for unemployment insurance rose 8,000 in the week ended March 2. The report marks the third straight weekly increase, following revisions to earlier statistics. Continuing claims, reported on a one-week lag, increased 10,000 to hit 3,416,000, representing the second straight weekly increase. The four week moving average for initial claims edged up modestly to 355,000 from 354750 while the average for continuing claims fell.

Consumer credit directly impacts the lending environment, and a recent report from CreditForecast.com reveals that American borrowers are on the rebound.

In Michigan, Main Street Bank is expanding its mortgage banking operations. The financial institutions recently announced the opening of a new mortgage office in downtown Rochester.