Secondary Market

Fewer homebuyers filed for mortgage loans last week, with applications falling on average by 9.6 percent from the week before, according to a weekly survey released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Minutes released by the Federal Reserve Tuesday portrayed the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting as one given to doubts about the health of the U.S. economy, housing recovery, and global markets. Discussions between the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós central bank presidents reveal concern over the state of the economy and the Fed├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós ability to promote positive capital movements. The minutes also shed light on the controversial the Fed's decision to keep interest rates low until 2013.

US Bancorp joined a field of investors taking issue with the $1.75-billion deal proposed by Bank of America, filing suit to recover losses over alleged falsifications, according to multiple news outlets. Following a filing in New York by the FDIC Monday, the suit emerges as the newest in a barrage of legal maneuvers to hit the bank over bad mortgage-backed securities. The litigation, which Bank of America continues to fend off as it seeks to finalize a $8.5-billion settlement, concerns loans allegedly misrepresented by Countrywide.

In Indianapolis, Indiana, Royal United Mortgage LLC is creating more than 140 jobs with its planned expansion. The company recently announced its intention to install a new office in the north sector of the city, which will result in adding a high number of new employees between now and 2013.

A new offering from CoreLogic is set to boost Mortgage Builder Software├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós programming, with the recent addition of a CoreLogic-driven verification component that will allow for the integration of tax return income.

Mortgage brokers, originators, and other loan production personnel continue to face a tough jobs market as two mortgage giants slashed their payrolls, according to second-quarter employment numbers released by MortgageDaily.com. The mortgage Web site predicted that bad loans and invitingly low mortgage rates could create the pickup needed for lenders to hire more brokers and loan officers. The results follow much worse numbers from the first-quarter over 2011.

Home prices crept forward over the second quarter this year but failed to march to the same beat as prices over the same period last year, according to Standard & Poor├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which the ratings agency released Tuesday. The numbers reflect a still-stagnant housing economy that continues to wobble on chronically low demand, unsure consumers, and a lending crunch for otherwise creditworthy homebuyers. S&P indices revealed a steady and continuing downward slope for second-quarter home prices since 2010.

The FDIC stepped in late Monday to halt the mega $8.5-billion Bank of America deal over mortgage-backed securities, according to multiple news outlets. The federal agency, an erstwhile bank regulator, filed its concerns in a U.S. District in New York as an investor with claims to securities at stake in the settlement. A state judge in New York will preside over the decision to green-light the settlement come November, even as an investor group persists in trying to kick the case up to a federal court, according to Bloomberg News.

Fewer homebuyers signed contracts for home purchases over July, casting the housing recovery as one still in flux for pending home sales. The National Association of Realtors released an index Monday that found signed contracts falling off from June, with a 1.3-percent decline from 90.9 recorded that month. According to the index, overall signed contracts dipped to 89.7 in July, remaining 14.4 percent over a weak 78.4 recorded by the index for the same month last year. Regionally, only the West showed signs of health.

Overture Technologies, Inc., has been partially acquired by CompuGain Corporation and its mortgage division is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. Overture, a software solutions company for the mortgage and educational finance industries, sold its mortgage component to CompuGain and will continue to operate as Overture Financial Solutions under the CompuGain banner.