Origination

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.

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.

Purchase originations gained a bit more ground on refinances in November, according to Ellie Mae's latest Origination Insight Report. According to the findings, refinance originations pulled back slightly to represent 68 percent of loans closed, down from 69 percent in the October report. Meanwhile, the share of purchase loans increased to 32 percent from 31 percent previously. Though refinances are slowly losing ground, refinance share remains well above its May level, when refinance and purchase shares were fairly equal.

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.

A sharp decline in refinance applications brought overall mortgage application activity down for the week ending December 14, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In the Sunshine State, economists have revealed projections for 2013, and their outlook presents a positive, if somewhat sluggish, forecast for the region's housing market. According to experts from Florida Realtors and Fannie Mae, upward trends are set to continue in Florida, while the state's pace of recovery is expected to fall behind the national average.

After rising economic growth in the third quarter, overall economic growth is expected to decline this quarter and in early 2013, according to Fannie Mae. However, the GSE anticipates further strengthening in the housing market. Economists anticipate economic growth of less than 2 percent for the first half of 2013 followed by more accelerated growth for the remainder of the year. However, while the overall economy remains dismal, Fannie's economists finds a bright spot in the housing market.