According to the most recent jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor, the economy added 103,000 jobs in September, and though markets reacted to the data in a lukewarm fashion, a true bright spot in the department’s findings

Mortgage rates have been on a steady decline the last couple months, and thanks to recent monetary action by the Federal Reserve, they hit all-time lows late last week, with the 30-year FRM shattering the 4 percent barrier and

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was on Capital Hill yesterday testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, and during his testimony made several faint mentions of pending housing programs and revisions from the Treasury Department. “We expect to move

CoreLogic released its latest Home Price Index (HPI), showing a slight decline in August by 0.4 percent that represents the first decline in four months. A tracker of home prices and contemporary to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller, the HPI

Lately, there hasn’t been much love for government loan mod programs. News has been swirling the past month that revisions are pending to the government’s underperforming loan modification programs, and sharp critiques have abound on the programs’ performance records.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the September edition of the White House’s “Housing Scorecard” yesterday, highlighting the positive trends in housing prices and refinancing options and other notable government initiatives. Raphael Bostic, a HUD

On Aug. 18, 2011, Freddie Mac released the results of its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), reporting that 30-year fixed rate mortgages had reached a new low at 4.15 percent, surpassing the previous low of 4.17 percent from

Freddie Mac Senior Vice President Paul Mullings confronted negative perceptions on refinancing in a recent blog post, stating that refinancing by Freddie and other government agencies has saved homeowners not millions, but billions of dollars. “One thing I observed

Despite daily doses of apocalyptic news and forecasts, two prominent surveys on housing cut through the fog and show that even in a down market, housing remains a mainstay of the American Dream. The two surveys, one by Fannie

After an off week, mortgage applications bounced back to life the third week of September, increasing 9.3 percent on the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly study of the application market. Mike Fratantoni, the MBA’s vice president of research and

Serious delinquencies for single family homes, which are loans that are either in foreclosure or three month’s late on payments, declined for both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in August. For Fannie, the delinquency rate dropped to 4.03 percent,

Record-low mortgage rates and the most affordable housing market in 20 years are jump-starting investments in the mortgage markets, though financing remains tricky. Last week, the 30-year FRM fell to 4.01 percent, the lowest rate in the history of

The U.S. housing market has finally bottomed out, and after two years of flat growth, will begin a slow, steady recovery, according to former RealtyTrac vice president Rick Sharga. Sharga, who is now an executive vice president with Carrington

Stories abound on the immense international investments in the U.S. housing market, and a new study from Credit Sesame seems to have clarified why. According to an elegant infographic that Credit Sesame compiled using price data from Zillow, the

First, it was the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Now, it’s the Emergency Homeowner’s Loan Program (EHLP). Both are government programs for housing, and both are due to fall short of their initial goals. Underperformance seems to be the

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) offered two plans for revamping mortgage servicing compensation. One model would reduce percentage-based servicing fees on government-sponsored enterprise loans and set aside three to five basis points of the principal balance to fund