Daily Dose

The national housing market moved slightly farther away from stability in May as applications for home purchase mortgages remained subdued. Freddie Mac's Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) for the month slipped to a value of -2.64 in May, indicating a slightly weaker market than in April, when the index measured -2.59.

RealtyTrac released Thursday its latest statistics on home equity for the second quarter, reporting continue declines in the number of U.S. properties considered "seriously" underwater. According to the company 9.1 million homes are now considered seriously underwater, representing 17.2 percent of all homes nationwide. There's still a long way to go, however, especially as annual home price appreciation keeps coming down.

The Commerce Department reported on Thursday that sales of new homes in June were at an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of 406,000, reflecting a decline of 8.1 percent from May. May's sales rate, originally reported at 504,000, was revised down to 442,000, erasing much of the 18.6 percent gain that had been recorded previously.

Former Congressman Barney Frank testified before the House Committee on Financial Services on Wednesday, dismissing criticisms of his namesake Wall Street reform act. In the more than three hour long hearing, Frank and others faced tough questions on the effect that the act has had on the economy and the value of the changes when compared with the toll it takes on financial services firms.

Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) submitted a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asking the agency to expand the small creditor exemptions set out under its mortgage rules that went into effect in January. ICBA's main request is that mortgage loans held in small creditors' portfolios automatically receive qualified mortgage safe harbor status for as long as the loans are held in those portfolios.

Wells Fargo's Economics Group recently released its July 2014 economic outlook for Minnesota, reinforcing that while the state's economy is greatly improved, housing still lags behind, with traditional homebuyers in no great hurry to return to the market.

After experiencing a post-holiday decline, applications for home mortgages picked up again last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported. MBA's Market Composite Index, a weekly measure of mortgage loan application volumes, bumped up 2.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending July 18, the group said.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) monthly House Price Index (HPI) increased 0.4 percent in May from April, the agency reported Tuesday. Seasonally adjusted price changes from April to May ranged widely across the nine census divisions, from a low of -0.7 percent in the East South Central area to +1.1 percent in the West South Central division.

Economic growth so far this year has been "bittersweet" as housing takes a backseat in moving the recovery forward, Freddie Mac said Monday in its July 2014 Economic and Housing Outlook. But with employment bouncing back and household formations expected to improve, all is not last, says Freddie Mac VP and chief economist Frank Nothaft.

One of the pet reasons for explaining the lack of demand for houses among millennials is the presence of ever-escalating student loan debts. The thinking goes that college graduates are so mired in debt that they either cannot afford to buy or are too afraid to run up more debt. However, Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic, isn't buying it.