Data

While consumers are still "generally positive" on average about housing and the economy, attitudes over the last few months suggest optimism has hit a plateau, Fannie Mae says. While September's survey results show attitudes leading up to the October shutdown, they do not necessarily reveal its full effects (or those of the pending debt ceiling debate), the company noted. Those results should be seen in the surveys for October and the following months.

Mortgage lending remains tight compared to historical norms, and lending could tighten even further as the government takes steps to lessen its role in the market.

According to recently published data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), the homeownership rate was down in 2012 for the fifth consecutive year, falling to 63.9 percent. "By most measures, 2012 was a year of housing market recovery, with gains in housing construction, home sales, home prices, and mortgage originations. However ... the homeownership rate did not follow suit," said Patrick Simmons, director of strategic planning for Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group.

Alan Fields, executive director for the Florida Land Title Association, has joined WFG National Title, the company announced.

Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc. (NTC), a post-closing services provider for the residential mortgage industry, has been recognized by the Florida Business Journals as one of the state's fastest-growing companies.

Trulia is the latest company to report a monthly slowdown in home prices--and trends indicate yearly gains may soon cool as well. "Asking home prices give us the first look at where home sale prices are headed, and they point to a slowdown," said Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko. "After rising rapidly in the first half of 2013, asking prices in two thirds of the largest metros are cooling. In fact, asking prices are falling--not just rising more slowly--in 11 of the 100 largest metros, the most markets to see prices slip in six months."

In Colorado, Urban Lending Solutions (ULS) announced the hiring of industry experts Ken Harthausen and Julie Bussey.

Real estate agents say the housing market is beginning to shift from seller control, and they expect price gains to moderate over the next several months, according to the latest survey from Redfin.

Jay Brinkmann, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), has announced that he will retire in early 2014.

Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed average fixed rates dropping for the third straight week, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaging 4.22 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending October 3, down a tenth of a percentage point. In addition to the government shutdown (which threatens to shave points off of GDP growth in Q4 if allowed to continue much longer), rates were brought down by a slip in consumer sentiment in September.