Secondary Market

A report released Monday by the Census Bureau revealed an estimated annual rate of $874.9 billion (seasonally adjusted) for construction spending in the month of May 2013. Private residential construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted rate of $322.3 billion, 1.2 percent higher than the $318.5 billion revised April estimate. The month's nonresidential construction spending showed an annual rate of $238.1 billion, down 1.4 percent from the revised April estimate of $287.1 billion.

Home prices continue to see significant gains as inventory limits buyers, CoreLogic said in its latest Home Price Index (HPI) report. The index rose 12.2 percent (including distressed sales) year-over-year in May, once again marking the biggest annual increase since 2006. Excluding distressed sales, prices were up 11.6 percent over May 2012. Looking at the top 100 core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) measured by population, 97 showed year-over-year gains in May, CoreLogic reported--up from 94 in April.

In an effort to help investors "evaluate upcoming credit-sensitive securitization proposals from the GSEs," Fitch Ratings completed an analysis of credit performance data in a recent report.

RE/MAX of New Jersey Inc. has selected EverBank as a preferred lender, the companies announced jointly.

According to Fannie Mae's monthly volume summary, the GSE's book of business grew at a compound rate of 0.3 percent in May, just edging out April's 0.2 percent growth.

LoanLogics and Platinum Data Solutions announced a partnership to combine loan performance analytics, management, and monitoring with automated valuation models.

Citigroup and Fannie Mae announced Monday an agreement to resolve future repurchase claims for breaches of representations of warranties on millions of loans originated between 2000 and 2012. As part of the agreement, Citi will pay Fannie Mae $968 million, "substantially all of which was covered" by the bank's existing mortgage repurchase reserves as of the end of the first quarter. The settlement covers 3.7 million first mortgage loans sold to the GSE.

While the reaction to Thursday's report on personal income and spending for May was largely positive, it may have also been misplaced.

LenderLive Network, an end-to-end mortgage services provider headquartered in Colorado, announced a partnership to provide subservicing for Pingora, a specialized asset manager focused on investing in and managing the servicing of newly produced mortgage servicing rights (MSR) portfolios.

In California, Rudy Casanova joined the mortgage services division at First American Title Insurance as national sales director, the company announced in a release.