News

Mortgage applications went into the holiday season with a strong start, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

American International Group, Inc. (AIG), announced Tuesday that Kim Garland, president and CEO of AIG mortgage insurance subsidiary United Guaranty Corporation (UGC), will transfer to AIG Property Casualty to serve as chief underwriting officer for global consumer insurance.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced the launch of a tool designed to provide data on the housing recovery in the region.

Construction spending during October was at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of $872.1 billion, according to an estimate from the Census Bureau. Spending on private construction was at an annual rate of $592.1 billion in October, up about $9.4 billion (1.6 percent) from September's revised $582.7 billion. Spending on homebuilding made up a little less than half of that total, reaching an annual rate of $294.2 billion (up 3.0 percent from September and 20.8 percent from October 2011).

In the United Kingdom, HSBC is responding to market demand by rolling out the financial institution's lowest-ever two-year fixed rate mortgage. Announcing the new offering, HSBC revealed that borrowers can secure a 1.99 percent fixed rate with a 40 percent deposit or home equity value.

After remaining relatively flat for about a year, mortgage fraud is on the rise again, according to CoreLogic.

A month before her swearing-in, Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is already making waves in Washington. The Huffington Post reports Warren has been selected to fill a soon-to-be-open seat on the Senate Banking Committee. The position is just the latest in a string of regulatory oversight roles for Warren, who has built a political career out of being "a tough cop on the beat for Wall Street."

Asking prices on for-sale homes rose in November at a breakneck pace, but the gap between certain markets is growing more pronounced, according to Trulia's latest Price Monitor. However, even as the recovery in national prices accelerated in November, the number of metros reporting quarter-over-quarter price increases fell, dropping to 70 from 79 in August. Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko said the disparity points to an uneven recovery from metro to metro.

FDIC-insured banks continued to show improving health in the year's third quarter, the agency reported Tuesday. Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by FDIC reported aggregate net income of $37.6 billion in Q3, up $2.3 billion (or 6.6 percent) from a reported $35.2 billion in Q3 2011. Aggregate net income has increased on a year-over-year basis for 13 straight quarters. Total loan balances also increased for the fifth time in the last six quarters.

President Obama has appointed two new chairs to lead the FDIC's board of directors, the agency announced. Martin J. Gruenberg is the board's new chairman, and Thomas M. Hoenig is the vice chairman.