News

The new year may bring with it new reforms for the FHA as Congress considers legislation to bring the agency back to fiscal solvency.

The number of homebuyers who think the price recovery will continue through 2013 has more than doubled throughout 2012.

The latest Residential Price Index (RPI) report from FNC, Inc., shows property values continued to improve in October on the national level. Home prices were up 0.4 percent in October, marking the eighth consecutive month of price increases. Year-to-date, prices have appreciated at a rate of 5.1 percent. According to FNC, October's price gains falls "in line with indications of continued expansion in economic activity and better employment rates in recent months."

Sunset Beach, Missouri, was the site of this year's 51st bank collapse as the Missouri Division of Finance shut down the Community Bank of the Ozarks. According to a release from the FDIC, Community Bank of the Ozarks had approximately $42.8 million in total assets and about $41.9 million in deposits as of September 30. The Bank of Sullivan (Sullivan, Missouri) will be picking up all of the deposits and will purchase essentially all of the assets.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a report revealing only one in five people actually obtain a copy of their credit report each year.

Home sales in California displayed a typical seasonal decline in November and fell month-over-month, but the median price posted both monthly and yearly gains, San Diego-based DataQuick reported. About 37,481 new and existing homes were sold in November, representing a 4.5 percent decline from October, but a 14.7 percent increase from November 2011, according to DataQuick.

Hurricane Sandy's impact on non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) may not be nearly as bad as originally expected.

A study from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) asserts the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is inadvertently setting the country up for another housing collapse. In a report titled How the FHA Hurts Working-Class Families and Communities, AEI resident fellow and former Fannie Mae EVP Edward Pinto says an analysis of FHA's books for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 show the agency's "lending practices are inconsistent with its mission and represent a disservice to American working-class families and communities."

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) deputy director Stephen Cross will retire from his post in March 2013, according to an announcement from acting director Edward DeMarco. Cross has served as FHFA's deputy director of the Division of Federal Home Loan Bank Regulation since the agency's creation in 2008.

Outstanding commercial/multifamily debt increased in the third quarter, marking a full year of quarterly increases, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). In dollar volume, commercial/multifamily mortgage debt rose $6.6 billion over the quarter, bringing the national total to $2.38 trillion. The greatest third-quarter increase in commercial/multifamily debt was seen in agency and GSE portfolios and mortgage-backed securities, a sector that reported an increase of $9.4 billion.