The MReport Webcast: Thursday 2/5/2015

Based on an analysis of loan applications passing through its own fraud detection technology, analytics and risk management provider Interthinx said Tuesday that its national Mortgage Fraud Risk Index measured 98 in the third quarter of 2014, down 2 percent from the quarter prior and 9 percent from the year-ago period. The findings align with CoreLogic's latest fraud report, which revealed application fraud risk was down across all categories—except home equity lending, which has seen risk indicators rise as demand grows.

While the overall trend indicates an ongoing drop in fraud, a handful of states are still particularly bad in terms of high-risk markets, including Florida, California, and Arizona, all of which have quote--disproportionately higher levels of distressed property sales and investor activity, according to Interthinx.

Also included on that list are New Jersey, Connecticut, and Illinois, which have higher than average levels of both occupancy fraud risk and property valuation fraud risk as straw buyers dominate some of the local markets.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday that mortgage loan applications rose a seasonally adjusted 1.3 percent for the week ending January 30th. The MBA's Refinance Index rose 3 percent week-over-week, reflecting renewed interest among homeowners for refinancing as the average 30-year fixed rate slipped again to its lowest level in more than a year and a half. Including the latest increase, refinance application volume for the entire month of January saw a 54 percent surge from the end of 2014.