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Tech leaders a la mode and CoreLogic are teaming up. CoreLogic├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós ValuEdge platform will now connect with a la mode├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Mercury Network to facilitate ValuEdge's Native XML appraisal data. CoreLogic's ValuEdge software targets streamlined appraisal process compliance, and the integrated plugin with a la mode will provide CoreLogic with additional quality control elements and advanced bundling for all reports.

Recent analysis by the Mortgage Bankers Association revealed that commercial and multifamily mortgage debt remained relatively fixed in the first quarter of 2011, down by only 0.1 percent from the fourth quarter.

May housing numbers are in for the state of California and numbers look grim. The survey, conducted by the California Assoc. of Realtors, credits the struggling economy and stringent lending standards for the decline.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued a six-month delay for the finalization of rules and regulations in sync with the Dodd-Frank Act, temporarily checking a host of new requirements that analysts fear will distress the derivatives, financial, and mortgage banking markets. The Federal Reserve, FDIC, and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency fell behind schedule in the lead-up to Dodd-Frank's implementation phase, which goes into effect on July 16 despite that over half of the required 387 provisions need writing.

RE/MAX issued a report this week that yields a net gain in month-over-month statistics for home sales and prices in May, aligning with an expected seasonal drive by homebuyers, investors, and foreign buyers to real estate. Adding to a three-month trend on the upside, the company says home prices climbed 3.7 percent between April and May, while closed sales transactions rose 3.2 percent. RE/MAX says activity appears to be coming back in line with the seasonal trends expected this time of year.

The real estate information marketplace Zillow has expanded its database of homes, leveraging user-submitted data to add more than 25 million new home valuations generated from the company's proprietary Zestimate algorithms, which are Zillow's own market value estimates based on various details available about individual properties. The company says it now has data, Zestimates, and Rent Zestimates on more than three-quarters of all homes in the United States.

Representing a nudge in the right direction for the origination market, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a 13 percent swell in home loan applications submitted last week, up from the record low reported just one week earlier. It was the biggest gain recorded in three months. Michael Fratantoni, MBA's VP of research and economics, says low rates are driving consumers back to loans. Rates have dropped over eight of the last nine weeks - a primary driver for homeowners looking to refinance. MBA's Refinance Index jumped 16.5 percent.

The innovative franchise system launched by a mortgage company may enable mortgage brokers to go into business for themselves and earn additional compensation in an industry recently beset by tough new compensation rules. LenderCity, a Missouri-based company, recently announced its completion of a Uniform Franchise Disclosure Document (UFDD), which will allow licensed brokers running businesses to retain their financial independence and access back-end services without losing their identities.

The health of the labor market has a far-reaching impact on many areas of housing. When the economy is growing and the number of employed rises, so do home sales and mortgage originations. According to the research firm Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, there's also a definitive link between employment and home prices. The firm's analysts examined metro area job data juxtaposed with price trends for new homes, and their conclusions illustrate that jobs and housing "are joined at the hip."

More hard times may be in store for brokers in the loan origination sector, which the Federal Reserve's new compensation rules already shrank by causing a wholesale market pullback in April, according to Barclays Capital. A weekly economic forecast by the firm offered a section entitled "Bye, bye broker" that predicts a flight by brokers to high-balance loans over the next several years. The analysts note that the barred yield-spread premiums (YSP) provided brokers with as much as 90 percent of their compensation in the past.