Secondary Market

Taylor Capital Group, Inc., is initiating a major expansion of its mortgage division. The group recently announced plans to double the number of branches for Cole Taylor Mortgage, which serves as the company's lending unit through Taylor Capital subsidiary, Cole Taylor Bank.

Realestalker.com is reporting that a major property acquisition is underway for Oracle founder, Larry Ellison. According to the website, the billionaire technology entrepreneur is set to purchase the Hawaiian island of Lanai for between $500 and $600 million.

HomeStreet Bank is expanding its employer-assisted benefit options to a new region of Washington state. The community bank has announced the extension of its Hometown Home Loan Program to the Spokane area.

Potential homebuyers looking to capture the spirit of the swinging 60s still have a chance to snag a piece of history in Beverly Hills. The former home of Patty Duke remains on the market for $5.395 million, after having been originally listed in March of 2011 for $6.

Existing home sales dropped to 4.55 million in May while the median price of an existing home rose to $182,600, the National Association of realtors reported Thursday. The decline in the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales was the third in the last four months and steeper than expected. Despite the month-over-month decline, existing-home sales continue a steady, longer-term increase. Sales have averaged 4.574 million in the last five months, compared with 4.358 million in the previous five months and 4.274 million last year.

While the lights of the housing market continue to flicker, rental market activity has been a bright spot, said Freddie Mac's U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for June. The enterprise├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós report, released Tuesday, showed that newly formed households seem more interested in renting over owning as the economy struggles to get back on its feet. Freddie Mac expects this trend to continue for the near future. Reis found a 2.8 percent gain in its markets during the same period, while Axiometrics reported a 4 percent rise in nominal rents.

Renters and first-time homebuyers want more amenities in their first homes and generally feel a sense of optimism that outpaces the reality in a slowly recovering housing market ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô a disconnect that could set the stage for the next housing crisis. Those are the findings that real estate company Trulia unveiled in an American Dream survey it released Wednesday. Of 86 markets in the 100 largest metro areas, 61 percent, or nearly two-thirds, of Americans believe that home prices will rise over the next year, according to the company.

With a lone dissent, the Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday voted no change in the target federal funds rate but agreed to expand its program to stimulate the economy by purchasing Treasury securities. The action is expected to keep mortgage rates at record lows. After the meeting, the FOMC released its quarterly forecast of the economy and interest rates with more members of the Committee seeing higher rates in 2014 than in the prior forecast. The FOMC said "growth in employment has slowed in recent months and the unemployment rate has declined but remains elevated."

The revised figures for economic growth in the year's first quarter were disappointing, but Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group is still forecasting moderate growth for the remainder of 2012. A report released by the group Tuesday projected 2.2 percent growth for all of 2012. Several factors presented risks to the economic outlook, including a slowing trend in job growth and potential contagion in the euro zone from Greece's financial issues. Consumer attitudes also influence the economic outlook.

Analysts said Tuesday that a reduction in homicide rates by 10 percent would likely lead to a 0.83 percent increase in housing values and a 2.1 percent increase in housing prices in residential and metropolitan areas around the nation. The Center for American Progress surveyed 8 major metropolitan areas to tally up the costs of violent crime ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô including homicide, rape, and aggravated robbery ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô for residents, cities, and state and municipal governments. According to the study, the results weigh heavily on residential property values and home prices.