Origination

Consumer confidence took another dive in January as Americans saw their paychecks shrink, The Conference Board reported Tuesday. The research firm's Consumer Confidence Index--based on a survey conducted by Nielsen--fell to 58.6 in January, down from 66.7 at the end of 2012. Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, said the drop stems from consumers' "paycheck shock" after seeing how the payroll tax increase has affected their bank accounts.

The number of households owning homes rose to 75,209,000 in the fourth quarter, up from 75,076,000 in the third but down from 75,315,000 a year ago, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. At the same time, the nation's homeownership rate (seasonally adjusted) dipped to 65.4 percent in the fourth quarter from 65.5 percent in the third quarter. The stagnant homeownership rate combined with a decline in the number of units held off the market suggests opportunities for home sales.

Despite seeing a month-over-month drop, the 10- and 20-city Case-Shiller Home Price Indices registered their strongest year-over-year improvement in two and a half years, Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday. On an annual basis, the 10-city index was up 4.5 percent, and the 20-city index rose 5.5 percent. It was the strongest yearly gain in the 10-city index since June 2010 and in the 20-city index since May 2010. Year-over-year, prices were up in 19 of the 20 cities surveyed.

A new report from the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) suggests the Treasury Department has failed once again to curb what SIGTARP calls "excessive" executive pay at AIG, General Motors, and Ally Financial--three companies bailed out with taxpayer funds. After investigating pay in 2012, SIGTARP reported Treasury approved pay packages worth $5 million or more for 23 percent of the top employees at AIG, GM, and Ally.

Global DMS announced it has integrated its valuation management software with LendingQB's end-to-end, browser-based loan origination system.

Orion Financial Group, Inc., a Texas-based provider of mortgage assignment, lien release, and document retrieval services, is celebrating its 20th birthday--and 20th year of success--in 2013. According to a release, Orion has seen a 170 percent increase in transactions in the last five years alone. In addition, the company's client base has tripled since 2008.

After a lengthy waiting period banks and title insurers are beginning to prosper once again from a strengthening mortgage market.

In Colorado, First Valuation named Ted Venhorst as national sales executive. Venhorst's real estate and financial services career has spanned nearly three decades, taking him through such nationally recognized companies as UPF Services, The CIT Group, NovaStar Mortgage, and IndyMac Bank.

Home prices continued to inch up in November, according to Lender Processing Services' (LPS) Home Price Index (HPI) for the month.

The NAR's Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) fell 4.3 percent to 101.7 in December, the sharpest month-over-month drop since April.