In California, LRES announced the promotion of accounting veteran Susheel Mantha to the role of CFO.

With the second-quarter earnings season mostly done, financial services firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) reports that mortgage bankers tracked in its coverage saw a 22 percent increase in volumes from the first quarter to the second. "We view the mortgage results for the banks that have already reported 2Q earnings as largely in line with expectations," KBW commented.

According to a quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors, median existing single-family home prices increased in 71 percent of measured markets last quarter, with 122 out of 173 metros posting annual increases from Q2 2013. Nineteen of those areas reported double-digit increases. Those numbers reflected a slowdown from the first quarter, when prices rose in 74 percent of metros, and 37 areas saw gains higher than 10 percent.

It might be old hat to say that women have come a long way in the workforce in the past half-century, but it's true. For its special August issue, MReport explored the ascent of women in the workplace, putting a spotlight on just a few of those who have made their way up the ladder.

Vantage Production, a customer relationship management (CRM) solutions provider with headquarters in New Jersey, announced the launch of Vantage Retail Sites, the first website in a series designed to help lenders drive Internet sales while maintaining compliance controls.

Over the next 12 months, Americans expect median home prices to rise 3.87 percent, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That figure is down slightly from the New York Fed's June survey, marking the second consecutive month of declining price change expectations. The decline is in line with Fannie Mae's most recent National Housing Survey, which showed a decline in expected price growth to 2.3 percent.

Less than two years after being confirmed as the head of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Commissioner Carol Galante is making plans to step down from her post.

Speaking at a conference in Sweden Monday morning, Stanley Fischer, vice chairman of the Fed and former governor of the Bank of Israel, admitted that the global recovery from the recession has been disappointing at best, noting that economic growth among the world's most advanced economies has underperformed compared to previous post-recessionary periods.

Of the nearly 350 metro markets survey in the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI), the group reports 56 have returned to or exceeded their previous normal levels of economic and housing activity based on housing permits, home prices, and employment. While unchanged from NAHB's June survey, the latest index reflects a yearly increase of seven markets.

The company responsible for one of the most widely used measures of credit health is making changes to its current model that could boost credit scores nationwide. While the changes may have a significant impact on approval rates for credit cards and auto loans, the effects will be more subtle for borrowers and lenders in the mortgage space, says Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for personal finance website Bankrate.com.