Daily Dose

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday that total application activity, including purchase and refinance numbers, fell 3.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending January 23. The decline also included an adjustment for the Martin Luther King holiday.

Calculating from a sampling of mortgage applications initiated on its Encompass platform, technology provider Ellie Mae estimated this week that home purchase mortgages accounted for 56 percent of lending activity last month, up from 54 percent in November.

In its latest National Mortgage Risk Index (NMRI), the American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) International Center on Housing Risk estimated that 11.84 percent of agency purchase loans would be at risk of default should the economy see another crisis in the near future.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its monthly Consumer Confidence Index rose to 102.9 this month from an upwardly revised 93.1 in December. According to the group, January's reading was the highest since August 2007, when the index was at 105.6.

The Commerce Department estimated Tuesday that new home sales in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000, a jump of 11.6 percent from November's downwardly revised sales rate of 431,000. Economists had expected a smaller increase in sales to a rate of 452,000.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, released Tuesday, shows house prices across all nine of the country's census divisions fell 0.1 percent from October to November. The narrower 10- and 20-city composite indices also dipped, dropping 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent month-to-month, respectively.

In a review of its November survey of senior mortgage executives, Li-Ning Huang, Fannie Mae found that though respondents are concerned about compliance issues and weak borrower demand, most are still optimistic about the year ahead, particularly when it comes to their growth plans.

Ocwen's response called the investors' claims "ill-conceived" and state that "[w]hile knee-jerk foreclosures may redound to the special economic interests of your clients, they are not in the best interests of the trusts as a whole, not consistent with industry practice, and therefore prohibited under the servicing agreements."

Highland Community Bank, located in the city's South Side, closed its doors over the weekend on orders from the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation's banking division.

Black Knight Financial Services reported Monday that its Home Price Index (HPI) rose 0.1 percent month-over-month in November to a value of $241,000. Compared to a year ago, November's index was up 4.5 percent.