Origination

Lender Processing Services, Inc.'s Applied Analytics division released its updated home price index, showing that although prices fell year-over-year, the HPI increase from this year's low has been the most significant jump up in years. The company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós recent HPI is an update from an earlier release to reflect residential sales concluded during April 2012. The index showed that home price values fell 0.1 percent from April 2011 to April 2012 ($201,000 to $200,000). However, price index values rose from January's low ($195,000) at a pace not seen in more than half a decade.

Citigroup reported a net income of $2.9 billion, $0.95 per share, during the second quarter of this year, down 12 percent from the second quarter of last year, according to its earnings report released Monday. The bank├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós revenues totaled $18.6 billion in the second quarter, a 10 percent decline from last year. According to Citigroup, the decline in earnings is largely the result of the ongoing process of winding down Citi Holdings, a division opened in 2009 to house assets and businesses the bank hopes to unload.

Top executives and favored borrowers faced indictment by a federal grand jury on Wednesday for their role in a massive fraud that led to the biggest Virginia bank collapse since 2008. According to a release on Thursday from SIGTARP, the accused are charged with masking non-performing assets at the Bank of the Commonwealth in Norfolk, Virginia. The long-running scheme benefitted the alleged perpetrators to the detriment of the bank, leading to its eventual failure in 2011. The FDIC estimates the cost to its deposit insurance fund to be $268 million.

More underwater borrowers are choosing to refinance their mortgages under the Home Affordable Refinance Program than at any time since the government program launched in 2009, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The regulatory agency released a report Monday that found total refinance volume up by 20 percent in May. The reasons why? According to the FHFA, record-low interest rates for 30-year fixed-mortgages couple with recent modifications to HARP to create the conditions for a refi boom.

In Utah and Wisconsin, Mortgagebot and Avista have added two new clients for the companies' technology platforms. Mortgagebot and Avista, both of which share parent company D+H, will welcome University First Federal Credit Union and Bank of Lake Mills, to their roster of customers.

Is country superstar Tim McGraw entering the housing finance industry? All signs point to yes, according to a recent release revealing the recording artist's decision to launch HomeFront, a nationwide program that will provide mortgage-free homes to the country's wounded service members.

Improvements in mortgage banking and credit quality helped Wells Fargo see income gains for the second quarter of 2012. On Friday, Wells Fargo reported a net income of $4.6 billion, or $0.82 per share. The reported earnings for the most recent quarter was an 18 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago, when net income was $3.9 billion, or $0.70 per share. Net income for the most recent quarter was also up from the previous quarter when net income was $4.2 billion, or $0.75 per share.

Rallying investors by end of day Friday, JPMorgan Chase posted strong earnings from the second-quarter, with Home Affordable Refinance Program modifications helping boost income for the laggardly mortgage servicing unit year-over-year. For mortgage production and servicing, the financial institution fielded $604 million in net income over the second quarter, a figure that trumps a net loss of $649 million from the past year. Mortgage production rose to $931 million in pretax income for the lender.

Summer vacation seekers can live like Thomas Crown in the Malibu manse of Pierce Brosnan, because the actor's 13,000-square-foot estate is up for lease at $250,000 per month. According to RealEstalker, the stunning property boasts beach access, as well as unique design elements like Indonesian-themed decor.

Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, is bolstering its wholesale lending operations, recently hiring nine new employees for the company's sales team. Adding three sales leaders, as well as six account executives, Carrington hopes to continue the expansion of the company's mortgage lending division.