Daily Dose

Based on Zillow's latest homeownership data, the company estimated in a report on Monday that 12.4 percent of applicants who applied for a conventional mortgage loan in 2013 were denied. While the denial rate for white applicants was slightly better than the national average at 10.4 percent and only a little worse for Asians at 13.3 percent, black and Hispanic applicants stood a much higher chance of being turned down.

Sixty-seven percent of American adults responding to Fannie Mae's January National Housing Survey said now is a good time to buy a home, the company reported Monday, while 44 percent said now is a good time to sell. Both figures are up from December, when positive responses were at 64 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

Credit Union National Association (CUNA) revealed Friday that credit union memberships grew by 3.6 percent last year, the highest growth rate since 1994. Loan portfolios also saw a solid increase over the year.

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay more than $4 million in penalties in redress over allegations of misconduct related to loan qualifications and an illegal home equity product offered by a former affiliate to borrowers in New York.

Trulia's latest look at the U.S. housing market shows homebuyer interest in January and February is up 2 percent from the annual average since 2011, a trend that has paved the way for robust March-to-July buying interest.

The Five Star Institute announced the addition Friday of Biniam T. Gebre, Acting Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), as a featured speaker at the Sixth Annual Five Star Government Forum on March 18 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

Employers nationwide added 257,000 new jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said Friday. Economists projected a payroll increase of 230,000.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Thursday that its Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), which analyzes data from AllRegs' Market Clarity, increased 1.8 percent to 117.8 last month. All of the component indices measured by MBA increased month-over-month, with the gauge of conventional loan availability climbing 3 percent and the government index rising 0.9 percent.

The index ticked slightly upward in Q4 to 0.90, one point higher than Q3's revised figure of 0.89. The number of markets at or above their normal levels in Q4 increased from 60 in the previous quarter and from 52 in the same quarter a year earlier.

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) slipped 7 basis points in the last week, settling at 3.59 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending February 5, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. "Mortgage rates fell this week following the release of weaker than expected pending home sales, which fell 3.7 percent in December," said Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac.