Secondary Market

During the month of November alone, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac handled approximately 36,000 mortgages versus October's 34,000 mortgages within the Home Affordable Refinance Program. President Obama's most recent proposition aims to assist more households in refinancing, and in the president's recent State of the Union address, he presented possible modifications to the Home Affordable Refinance Program stating that "responsible homeowners shouldn't have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief."

Ellie Mae, one of the top providers of automation solutions for the residential mortgage industry, announced today that David Robins would be joining their team as chief information officer (CIO). Robbins is the former chief technology officer (CTO) of NetApp, Inc.

The Collingwood Group launched a new risk management and compliance division, established with the January 2012 acquirement of GWN Consulting, LLC (GWN), a firm specializing in Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Ginnie Mae risk management and quality control.

The Bankrate.com Financial Security Index made a leap in its recent release in January, from measuring a 95.8 in December to a 97.3, which is reported to be the highest score since June 2011, when the score was a reported 97.8. However, despite the seemingly positive outlook, consumers continue to feel uneasy with their financial security. Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate.com's senior financial analyst, says, "Each of the components - job security, savings, debt, net worth and overall financial security - improved over the past months."

Interest rates for mortgage loans went up for the first time in several months this week but remain near historic lows. Finance Web site Bankrate.com and mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported modest increases for mortgage rates across the board. Freddie Mac found the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rising from an all-time low of 3.88 percent last week to 3.98 percent this week, far below 4.80 percent seen for the loan at the same time last year. Bankrate.com posted a similar increase from 4.18 percent last week to 4.25 percent this week. Europe's debt crises have helped keep rates low.

New-home sales crawled to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000 in December despite modest signs of recovery. The Commerce Department said Thursady that new-home sales fell 2.2 percent below expectations from November, which held that homebuyers would pick up a seasonally adjusted 314,000 homes annually. New homes from last month carried a median sales price around $210,300, with the average sales price hovering around $266,000. Experts suggest contract failures, foreclosures, short sales, and tight credit helped slow sales.

TMS Funding has added a new leader to its wholesale lending division. The company recently announced that Domenic Melillo has been hired as TMS Funding's vice president of wholesale lending.

Graystone Mortgage and Appraisal Logistics have announced the continuation of their standing partnership. Currently, Appraisal Logistics facilitates compliance and risk management for Graystone.

Former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd resigned from his role as CEO of Fortress Investment Group Wednesday amid ongoing controversy related to a Securities and Exchange Commission suit. The company announced his resignation in a statement, not long after Mudd had decided to take a leave of absence from his role.

Members of the Federal Open Market Committee decided Wednesday to keep interest rates between 0 percent and .25 percent until 2014, even while the economy steadily improves. All but one of the Fed├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós governors voted to extend the policy enacted last fall for another two years, where originally the central bank had determined to delay higher interest rates until 2013. The Fed said that it made the decision in lieu of evidence from December that showed unemployment remaining steady. Experts disagree over whether low interest rates will help the market.