News

DocuTech Corp., a compliance and documentation technology provider headquartered in Idaho, hired Frank Colson as product manager.

June saw a decline in the number of private mortgage insurance policies issued, though dollar volume for those policies increased, according to the latest monthly report from Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA). Member companies issued a combined 49,666 insurance certificates, down from 52,545 in May. June's decline was the first since February. While policies fell, dollar volume rose, jumping to nearly $12.3 billion from May's $12.0 billion.

Mortgage application volume declined last week at a more sudden rate than in previous weeks, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Commercial and multifamily loan originations are up both quarterly and over the year, according to MBA's Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Originations.

Veros, a provider of collateral valuation technology, enterprise risk management, and predictive analytics, announced an update to its VeroSCORE appraisal risk scoring tool.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased for the third straight month in June, pulled back to 80.3 in July as its two sub-components moved in different directions. "Consumer Confidence fell slightly in July, precipitated by a weakening in consumers' economic and job expectations," said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board. "Consumers' assessment of current conditions continues to gain ground and expectations remain in expansionary territory despite the July retreat."

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of new mortgage contracts shows interest rates climbing 0.15 percent from May to June. According to FHFA's Monthly Interest Rate Survey, the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders was 3.55 percent for loans closed in late June. As loans are typically locked in 30-45 days before a loan is closed, June's data reflect market rates from mid- to late May.

Home prices rose to their highest levels in almost five years in May, increasing by a non-seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday. The 20-city index was up 12.2 percent from a year earlier, and the companion 10-city index was up 11.8 percent. For the month, the 10-city index rose 2.5 percent and the 20-city index was up 2.4 percent. The two surveys have improved month-over-month and year-over-year for 12 consecutive months.

Americans hold a more positive view of the housing market, while an increasing share of renters plan to own, according to the 2013 National Housing Pulse Survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Of those surveyed, 80 percent said they believe buying a home is a good financial decision, up by 8 points from 2011. Meanwhile, the percentage of those who say they prefer to rent over buying dropped 6 points since 2011 to 25 percent.

LRES announced the latest version of LRES DirectConnect, an integration framework enabling clients and third-party systems to integrate into the LRES LINK order management platform.