Government

Florida's housing market continued its upswing into the new year, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors. Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 13,679 in January, up 11.7 percent year-over-year, the group reported. Meanwhile, pending sales--contracts signed but not yet completed or closed--for existing single-family homes rose 31 percent.

Interthinx's Predictive Analytics group published a white paper outlining recommendations for conducting stress testing on retail lending portfolios.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance jumped 20,000 to 362,000 for the week ending February 16, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected 359,000 initial unemployment claims. The spike in filings--the largest in three weeks--marked a reversal of what had been a downward trend in layoffs.

Carrington Technology Solutions, LLC (Carrington) and Equator, a default servicing technology provider, teamed up to provide financial institutions, institutional investors, and large-scale property management companies with a single-family asset management suite created to maximize the performance of multiple-property portfolios.

WNC, a national investor in real estate and community development initiatives, announced Anil Advani rejoined the firm as SVP of private label funds. Advani is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with private label investors, as well as managing the closing process of WNC's private label funds.

MountainView Servicing Group, a provider of residential MSR sale and valuation advisory services, released its Enhanced Comparative SRP Analysis for secondary marketing.

Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative, a national alliance of mortgage bankers, lenders, and suppliers, announced Tuesday its members will benefit from access to Motivity Solutions' Movation technology at a discounted rate.

Residential Finance Corporation (RFC), a nationwide mortgage lender based in Columbus, Ohio, named David Stein president of its retail branch division. Stein is a seasoned mortgage industry veteran and has significant experience in real estate, labor and employment law, and civil litigation.

Housing starts plunged 8.5 percent in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890,000, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly.

Orion Financial Group, Inc., a provider of mortgage assignment, lien release, and document retrieval services, announced it is now providing streamlined settlement services to investors. The new offering provides small- to medium-size investors a one-stop, efficient solution for their needs.