Origination

The number of mortgaged residential properties with negative equity fell more than five percentage points throughout the year's second quarter, CoreLogic reported Tuesday. According to the company's analysis, approximately 2.5 million residential properties returned to a state of positive equity last quarter, bringing the total number to 41.5 million. Meanwhile, 7.1 million homes--or 14.5 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage--were still in negative equity.

loanDepot.com, LLC and imortgage.com, Inc., have entered into a definitive agreement to combine, creating the nation's third-largest private, independent retail mortgage lender.

Having been approved in August, Norcom Mortgage's Fairfield, Connecticut, branch is open for business, the company announced. The Fairfield branch will take direction from Manny Gomes, a resident of the area since graduating from Southern Connecticut State University in 2006.

While FBR Capital Markets says its predictions for origination volume are still "attainable," the company admits its estimates "depend on a stable rate environment or a more robust level of economic activity."

Market indicators continue to point to an imminent slowdown in home price gains--further allaying fears of another housing bubble in the making, Capital Economic says.

In Florida, ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc., announced the appointment of Carolyn Downey as a new independent member of the company's board of directors.

The National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index reached its highest level on record in September with a little more than 80 percent of markets qualifying as improving. Of the 291 markets that made it onto the latest Improving Markets Index, 242 were repeats from the previous month, and 49 were new to the list. However, the association noted that September's result was largely due to a change to the way Freddie Mac measures home prices.

LRES, a national provider of commercial and residential valuations and appraisal management, announced the opening of a new operations facility in Phoenix to accommodate the company's growth and to serve as a key component of its disaster recovery plan.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) decreased 0.7 percent month-over-month in August.

Friday's report on the August employment situation at the same time confounded analysts twice with a less than robust 169,000 month-month increase in payrolls and a staggering 58,000 reduction in the initial report on payrolls for July. While it may not be easy to reconcile the numbers in the employment situation report with themselves, it is even more difficult to reconcile them with other economic indicators.