Mid America Mortgage, Inc., owner and CEO Jeff Bode recently announced the promotion of Chris Hartman to sales manager of wholesale and correspondent operations.

B2R Finance recently announced the appointment of Brad Weber as the company's chief accounting officer. Weber will report to CFO Darren Thompson.

The University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate, a nationally-renowned real estate research center, has appointed Rodney Ramcharan as its research director. Ramcharan has also been named associate professor of real estate and public policy at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.

Freddie Mac recently released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), finding that average fixed mortgage rates continue to drop as economic uncertainty pushed Treasury yields lower.

In the single-family 55+ housing market, builder confidence remains positive for the second quarter of 2015 with a reading of 57, according to the National Association of Home Builders' 55+ Housing Market Index.

Mortgage credit availability rose in July, mostly due to higher-balance loan programs, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Mortgage Credit Availability Index,

Housing construction trends are showing signs of an increase in total housing starts this year, according to Metrostudy's second quarter 2015 Home Building Outlook, which reviews housing construction trends across the top 100 housing markets nationwide.

The housing market is slowly but surely inching closer to normal levels with the help of economic and job growth, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Leading Markets Index released Thursday.

Green Tree Servicing is merging with Ditech Mortgage Corp., according to an announcement on Thursday from Green Tree. The merge will be effective August 31, 2015.

HUD recently announced the proposal of a new rule that would amend its already in place regulations on the equal participation of religious organizations in HUD programs, allowing different religious providers to apply for Federal funding without compromising their religious identity.