Finance

Builders’ confidence in the market for new single-family homes improved but remained quite low as the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) housing market index — a monthly gauge of builder sentiment — gained to 20 in November from 17 in October.

Mortgage application activity tumbled 10% in the week ending Nov.11, said the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), despite mortgage rates holding steady.

House and Senate appropriators approved more funds for a foreclosure mitigation program and included another short-term extension of the National Flood Insurance Program in a spending bill expected to pass this week.

First-time home buyers are no longer a force to be reckoned with.

Two Michigan registers of deeds have filed a class action lawsuit against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) for allegedly not paying proper county and state transfer taxes.

Moody's Investors Service has just withdrawn its provisional rating of 'Baa2 (sf)' on the secured notes, Series 2011-1 that were to be issued by Drug Royalty LP 1, a subsidiary of Toronto-based DRI Capital. Credit Suisse is lead managing the deal.

Lender Processing Services (LPS) said that, through its Loan Quality Gateway platform, its RealEC, Empower and LSI divisions are now directly integrated with the GSEs' Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP).

Freddie Mac this afternoon released its single-family seller/servicer guide bulletin where the GSE announced its changes to its Freddie Mac Relief Refinance Mortgage – Same Servicer and Relief Refinance Mortgage – Open Access offerings.

In 3Q11, fixed-rate loans comprised over 95% of refinance loans, according to Freddie Mac's Quarterly Product Transition Report that was published today.

Fitch Ratings started a quarterly report that details its U.S. home price projections.

House and Senate conferees have agreed to restore the $729,750 maximum loan limit for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgages for two years – but left the GSE cap unchanged.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust recently entered into a master repurchase agreement with Bank of America that allows a subsidiary of the publicly traded REIT to sell — and later repurchase — new originations in an aggregate principal amount of up to $200 million.

In the first decision of its kind stemming from class action litigation over the collapse of the auction-rate securities (ARS) market, a federal appeals court panel in New York ruled Monday that Merrill Lynch had adequately disclosed to customers that it was preventing auctions from failing.

Lloyds Bank priced its $600 million U.K. credit card deal via the Penarth Master Issuer Plc's medium-term note program.

Mortgage servicers seem to be caught between a rock and hard place when it comes to foreclosures: their legal practices are being scrutinized by state attorneys general for sloppy paperwork while the GSEs pile on fees for delays in loss mitigation work.

CIFC Corp. is planning to roll out a new CLO, possibly by the end of the year, and is also looking to sell or call an existing CLO, the asset management company disclosed in a regulatory filing late Monday.

The acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) told a Senate panel this morning that the agency is moving ahead with "private" risk sharing opportunities between Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and firms outside of the government's control.

SolarTech and CalCEF announced the creation of a working group to bring best practice leaders together to foster renewable energy financing, including securitization.

The Justice Department began sending letters Monday to servicemembers who are entitled to $20 million in damages from Bank of America Corp. for alleged violations of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act.

Home prices, on average, ended August at $205,000, an almost 4% drop from last year, according to new figures compiled by Lender Processing Services (LPS), Jacksonville, Fla.