Secondary Market

Home prices as measured by CoreLogic increased 12.4 percent year-over-year in July, the company reported in its monthly Home Price Index (HPI) report. "Home prices continue to climb across the nation in July with markets hit hardest during the downturn leading the way," said CoreLogic president and CEO Anand Nallathambi. "Nationally, home prices are now within 18 percent of their peak levels reached in April of 2006." Meanwhile, the Pending HPI indicates that August 2013 home prices will rise 12.3 percent.

Fannie Mae's book of business shrank for the second consecutive month in July as its gross mortgage portfolio continued to decline.

DebtX, an online marketplace for commercial real estate (CRE) debt, reported that CRE loan prices were little changed in July. According to DebtX, the estimated price of whole loans securing the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) universe fell to 90.7 percent, down from 90.8 percent in June. Loan values were 88.1 percent on July 31, 2012. "The secondary loan market remains active and little changed in terms of price. Loan values are essentially right where they were a year ago," said managing director Will Mercer.

ReverseVision, Inc., announced the addition of Kelly Kelleher to its San Diego office.

Income at financial institutions insured by the FDIC rose during the second quarter, according to a report released Thursday by the agency. Total net income at FDIC-insured institutions increased 22.6 percent year-over-year to $42.2 billion in the second quarter. "Asset quality continues to recover, loan balances are trending up, fewer institutions are unprofitable, the number of problem banks is down, and the number of failures is significantly below levels of a year ago," said FDIC chairman Martin J. Gruenberg.

Three prominent mortgage field service companies will fall under the ownership of one new holding company. The company, formed by Concentric Equity Partners (CEP) and TDR Capital (TDR), will own Mortgage Contracting Services, LLC (MCS), Asset Management Specialists, Inc., (AMS) and Vacant Property Specialists, LLC (VPS).

Trulia's Housing Barometer dialed up to 64 percent "back to normal" in July, the company reported.

The latest volume summary from Freddie Mac shows business continues to defy any sort of trend this year.

Second quarter growth was calculated at a seasonally adjusted annual 2.5 percent rate, a sharp increase from the 1.7 percent initially reported for gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of the nation's economy, a month ago.

Southwest Bank's own Tom Tallent has been elected as secretary/treasurer of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association (TMBA) for the 2013-2014 term, the company announced.