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Mortgage Daily tracked a total of 15 mortgage-related business closings in the first quarter of 2013, putting the year on pace to see the fewest number of mortgage banking failures in seven years. While Q1's casualty rate was greater than Q4 2012 (when 13 businesses shut down or collapsed), it's an improvement over Q1 2012, which saw 27 total closings. At the current pace, Mortgage Daily forecasts around 60 mortgage-related closings this year, down from 83 last year and the lowest level since 2006.

In Scottsdale, Arizona, V.I.P. Mortgage, Inc., announced its recent selection into Genworth U.S. Mortgage Insurance's (USMI) exclusive Leadership Circle.

Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS), a Texas-based provider of property preservation, inspections, and REO property maintenance to the financial services industry, named Ken Scheller as VP of operations.

Housing starts jumped 7.0 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,036,000, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly Tuesday. Multifamily starts (which increased 31.1 percent) accounted for all of March's gains, while single-family starts actually declined 4.8 percent. While the trajectory for both starts and permits shows a clear increasing pattern as the recovery marches on, residential construction activity remains far below pre-recession levels.

ValuTrac Software and Platinum Data Solutions announced they have entered into a partnership to integrate ValuTrac Pro into Platinum's RealView.

Vice Capital Markets, one of the nation's leading mortgage hedge advisory firms, named former managing director Troy D. Baars president. Baars joined the company in early 2008 during the onset of the financial crisis. During his tenure, he has been instrumental in helping the company's clients successfully navigate through market movements and changes in the landscape of mortgage salability.

Genworth U.S. Mortgage Insurance (USMI), a unit of Genworth Financial, Inc., announced it will offer 24 training classes in April to help mortgage lenders and servicers improve their efficiency and build their business.

The seasonal surge in home sales combined with another drop in listings to further drive up prices in March, Redfin observed in its latest Real-Time Price Tracker.

With the price of a new home barely above year-ago levels, builder confidence fell for the third straight month in April, dropping two points to 42.

While rapid price gains have some analysts issuing warnings about a housing bubble in the making, newly released reports argue that a repeat of the 2008 crash is unlikely.