The top commercial real estate lender in the United States, Wells Fargo & Company, recently announced plans to carry its commercial real estate division overseas to the United Kingdom to fill what the company says is a gap in the U.K. market.

Envoy Mortgage, a Houston, Texas-based retail mortgage originator and servicer, is expanding its operations to include correspondent lending, helping fill a void as many financial institutions exit the space.

Consistent with most industry indices, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported continued gains in its most recent House Price Index. On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices increased 0.6 percent from October to November. This rate matches the previous month's revised index, which was revised from a 0.5 percent increase to a 0.6 percent increase. National home prices have increased 5.6 percent over the 12-month period ending in November, according to FHFA. The current index is 15.2 percent lower than the national peak.

San Diego-based DataQuick, a technology provider for the lending industry, announced it has adapted its products to meet new industry standards. The company's MindBox decisioning program has assisted lenders in obtaining qualification information for more than 20 years. With the release of the new industry standards from the CFPB, DataQuick is adjusting the product to ensure compliance.

The Mortgage Partnership Finance (MPF) Program, originated in 1997 to assist small financial institutions in selling fixed-rate conforming loans to the secondary market, has experienced rapid growth over the last year. Both the number of financial institutions participating in the program and the number of loans funded through the program grew in 2012, according to a release.

A recent report from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies argues for more flexibility for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Under direction of a congressionally appointed advisory board and CEO, the new "FHA Corp." should be free to enact its own hiring process, manage its own budget and adapt to market changes "without Congress legislating each change or mandating numerous complex or inconsistent rules and regulations," researchers suggest.

360 Mortgage Group, a Texas-based privately-owned mortgage bank, recently announced the addition of two new mortgage refinance products to its inventory. The bank now offers customers access to the Veterans Affairs (VA) Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan Program and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Non-Credit Qualifying Streamline Product.

Vertical Capital income Fund (VCAPX), a fund that invests in mortgages and deeds of trust, outperformed its benchmark in its first fiscal year, according to a release from Irvine, California-based Vertical Capital Markets Group.

The CFPB's long-awaited qualified mortgage standards have been unveiled, and Capital Economics says the new rules "will not hamper the housing recovery."

Alleging that the financial institution misrepresented the quality of $1.02 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) dating from 2006 and 2007, MBIA Insurance Corporation has filed suit against Flagstar Bancorp, Inc. The assets in question were insured by MBIA, resulting in a $165 million loss for the company, according to a complaint filed in a U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. "To induce MBIA to guaranty payments due on certain securities, Flagstar made extensive warranties . . . . Flagstar's warranties were false," stated MBIA.