Origination

Consumer sentiment regarding personal finances was down in November, indicating Americans foster a more negative perception about their own finances than they did last year, according to Bankrate's Financial Security Index. Bankrate measures financial security in five categories: debt, net worth, savings, job security, and overall financial situation. Net worth was the one category in which Americans seem to feel somewhat better than they did last year.

Mortgage applications continued to decrease during the week of Thanksgiving, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported.

SharperLending LLC announced enhancements to its Appraisal Firewall platform with a new technical integration to American Reporting Company (ARC).

Colorado-based Capdominus, the largest Web-based capital markets platform for commercial real estate (CRE) finance, announced that the total volume of CRE financings on its platform has turned up sharply in the final months of the year.

British crooner Robbie Williams has put his stateside pad in Beverly Hills, California, on the market. According to RealEstalker, Williams listed the expansive estate, which comes with its own soccer field, for $3.6 million.

In Virginia, Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) is celebrating the final weeks of the year with record closing volume. Recently announcing that the organization's total mortgage loan closings for October hit $1 billion, NFCU reported that year-to-date, it has made more than $8.3 billion in mortgage-related funding available to consumers.

New home sales barely budged in October, dropping 0.3 percent to 368,000 after September's report was revised sharply downward from an original 389,000 to 369,000 the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected the report to show a sales pace of 387,000. Even with the slow growth in October, sales are up 17.2 percent from October 2011. However, the year-over-year gain was weaker than the 25.3 percent annual growth reported for September.

When calculating average monthly mortgage payments by state and the District of Columbia, Lending Tree found the nation's capital has the highest average monthly payment and highest share of income that goes toward a house payment.

After losing a previous bid earlier this year, UBS is making another attempt to shut down a lawsuit from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

With revenue up and the housing market showing a sustained recovery, Fitch Ratings says the outlook for the U.S. title insurance industry is "stable." The agency points to improved revenue and reduced expenses as signs of stability. Operating profit margins for Fitch's title universe rose to 10.3 percent in the first nine months of 2012, a dramatic jump from 6.1 percent during the same period in 2011. In addition, title revenues increased by more than 15 percent from January to September as housing markets found solid ground.