Servicing

The Department of Labor reported Thursday that advance initial unemployment figures for the week ending July 20 totaled 343,000, an increase of 7,000 over the previous week's revised tally. The four-week moving average for first-time claims was 345,250, a decline of 1,250 from the prior week.

Single-family home sales in Massachusetts rose for the second straight month in June, according to the latest report from the New England-based Warren Group.

Home sales and prices grew in June in the vast majority of counties covered by DataQuick's monthly Property Intelligence Report (PIR).

DocMagic, Inc. announced the appointment of Brian Yoder as director of software development.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales welled 8.3 percent in June to 497,000, according to a report from the Census Bureau and HUD. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected June sales to increase to 484,000 from May's originally reported 476,000. The median price of a new home fell 5.0 percent in June to $249,700, the third time the median price has dropped in the last four months. At the same time, May's median price was revised down to $262,800 from the originally reported $263,900.

According to Zillow's second-quarter Real Estate Market Reports, the U.S. Zillow Home Value Index (HVI) rose to $161,100 as of the end of June--up 2.4 percent quarter-over-quarter and 5.8 percent year-over-year. The second quarter's increase was the largest annual gain since August 2006 and the largest quarterly gain since the fourth quarter of 2005--as well as the second-largest quarterly gain since 2004. Over the next 12 months, Zillow forecasts an additional 5 percent increase in home values.

LendingQB, a provider of end-to-end loan origination software (LOS), and DocuTech, a provider of enterprise-class compliant document preparation software, announces a partnership to integrate their platforms.

The American Land Title Association (ALTA) recognized three land title experts with National Title Professional (NTP) designations Monday.

According to data reported by Redfin agents operating in 19 U.S. markets, June sales were down 4.7 percent compared to May, though they were still 2.7 percent up year-over-year. Home prices, on the other hand, continued to climb, coming in 4.3 percent higher than May and 18.7 percent higher year-over-year. Every one of the markets tracked in Redfin's report saw prices rise both on a monthly and yearly basis. Inventory also posted another solid gain in June, rising 2.4 percent month-over-month.

Gateway Mortgage has selected Fiserv's LoanServ platform to handle its mortgage servicing technology needs, Fiserv announced.