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Mortgage applications fell 2.6 percent from the week before as mortgage rates slammed into news lows, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. The Market Composite Index, a measure of loan application volume, contracted by 2.8 percent on a seasonally unadjusted basis from the week before, while the Refinance Index fell 1.6 percent during the same time frame. The Purchase Index meanwhile dropped 4.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week earlier, compared with a 7.5-percent shortfall for the same on a seasonally unadjusted basis.

Sun National Bank is updating is commercial lending team, with the addition of two new executives. Targeting support and growth for its middle market and commercial real estate business, Sun National has hired Anthony W. LaMarca and Joseph C. Tkac. LaMarca is joining Sun National as the company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós senior vice president and wholesale regional manager for its south New Jersey and Philadelphia markets.

Texas-based Supreme Lending is expanding its reach, with the recent announcement that the company added branches in Alabama. The five new locations, which are spread throughout the Southern state, are part of Supreme's growth strategy plan for 2012. Currently, Supreme's Alabama branches close nearly $500 million mortgages per year. Supreme's decision to extend its service area builds on the company's proprietary technologies and its in-house operations for underwriting, closing, and funding loans.

In accordance with the government's updated Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP 2.0), United Wholesale Mortgage has announced its successful implementation of the December 1 enhancements to the initiative. The federal program, which is designed to help facilitate refinancing for distressed homeowners, is expected to increase the number of participants who are eligible for assistance.

InHouse Inc. is working to abbreviate the time it takes lenders and appraisers to deliver the correct documentation to the government-sponsored enterprises. The company recently announced that it now offers users a faster, easier method of integration and compliance with the Uniform Collateral Data Portal. Providing technology services for banks, lenders, credit unions, and other mortgage originators, InHouse will help the companies it works with adapt to the UCDP in a matter of weeks.

A pickup in job growth and record-low mortgage rates helped fast-track housing starts to their strongest performance in nearly two years in November, with rental property construction ahead of single-family home starts. Housing starts surged by 9.3 percent month-over-month to hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000, up from 627,000 in October. The Commerce Department reported the data Tuesday via the Census Bureau. Continuing trouble in the euro zone helps keep mortgage rates at record lows.

Inching forward by the largest margin since May 2010, homebuilder confidence ticked up two points from a downwardly revised 21 for single-family homes, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Current sales conditions climbed two points to 22, according to the NAHB, while sales expectations for the next six months moved up to 26, reflecting a one-point increase. The index recorded a three-point gain in prospective buyer traffic that accelerated the measure to 18, the highest seen since May 2008.

DataQuick released statistics this week that reveal a 4-percent year-over-year increase in California home sales. The analytics company offered up an account of resales in California in a report released Wednesday. Condominiums and resale home sales leapt from 34,087 in October to 31,403 in November last year, with sales in the Golden State still far below lows of 25,578 seen in 2007. The company said that mortgage payments typical of homebuyers averaged $931 in November.

Lack of action from the Fed on monetary policy, wrangling in the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Capitol, and ongoing problems overseas helped push mortgage rates to new record lows this week. Finance Web site Bankrate.com recorded an all-time low for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, which slammed into 4.19 percent, down from 4.24 percent. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac countered with rates for the benchmark loan that again fell to 3.94 percent, down from 3.99 percent from the week before.

LendingTree is reaching out to originators and borrowers with an information release that focuses on consumer preparedness during the mortgage loan process. Citing borrowers' frustration with the pace of loan originations, LendingTree put out a report cataloging the top five documents that those seeking and selling mortgages can use to help facilitate faster processing.