News

Morgan Stanley is the latest company to make peace with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) over alleged misrepresentation of bad securities sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

National Real Tax Tracking (NRTT), a nationwide real estate tax management firm headquartered in Chicago, announced the promotion of Kelly Houseman-Hebert to managing director.

The Justice Department and JPMorgan both announced Tuesday that the bank will pay $614 million in restitution for violations of the False Claims Act. The government claims that starting as early as 2002, the firm knowingly originated and underwrote non-compliant loans submitted for insurance coverage and guarantees by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). As a consequence, the DoJ says FHA and VA ""incurred substantial losses when unqualified loans failed.""

In its weekly published Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Freddie Mac put the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 4.23 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending February 6, down from 4.32 percent previously. Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist for Freddie Mac, once again pointed to weaker housing data as a factor in this week's rate changes, noting declines in December pending home sales and a negative contribution to GDP from fixed residential investment.

Churchill Mortgage announced the opening of its first brick and mortar location in Missouri.

Homeowners surveyed by Redfin last month expressed greater confidence in the current selling environment, but many remain concerned about the difficulties they may face on the buyers' side of things. Denver Redfin agent Paul Stone captures survey-takers' sentiment, saying, ""Most of my home-selling clients worry the most about what will happen after they sell. With so much competition in the market, they fear they will have to move in with their in-laws if they can't find their next home quickly.""

Speaking at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) International Builders' Show (IBS) in Las Vegas, economists expressed a positive outlook for homebuilders in 2014--with a few warnings. NAHB chief economist David Crowe noted five key points for his positive projections: ""Consumers are back, pent-up demand is emerging, there is a growing need for new construction, distressed sales are diminishing and builders see it."" However, builders still face hurdles like tight credit conditions, and difficulties in obtaining accurate appraisals.

ValuTrac Software, a software solutions provider to the appraisal management and mortgage lending industry, announced a system-to-system integration of its technology with LendingQB.

Using weekly stats published by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), Capital Economics calculated a 2.5 percent increase in applications last month, turning the trend around from an 18.2 percent decline in December and a 1.3 percent drop in November. With the refinance boom in the rearview, Capital Economics shifted its focus to purchase applications, which rose 3.1 percent in January. As for future movements, the firm's outlook paints an unclear picture.

CoreLogic's Home Price Index jumped 11 percent year-over-year in December, the company revealed in its newest report.