Servicing

The new home market in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Metroplex continued to see rapid growth in the second quarter, according to a report from Metrostudy, a Hanley Wood company.

The StoneHill Group's Wade Hamby received an honor from Mortgage Bankers Association of Florida for his contributions to the association and the mortgage industry.

After surging in June, the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI)--a measure of builder confidence--shot up again in July, climbing six points to 57, its highest reading since January 2006, the group reported Tuesday. The two-month 13-point gain was the strongest two-month increase since January-February 1992, when the index improved 14 points. All three of the HMI components increased for the third month in a row.

FNC's Residential Price Index (RPI) continued to show gains in May, though the company noted the pace of growth has started to slow to a more sustainable level. According to FNC, the index climbed 0.5 percent in May, striking a balance between April's 0.7 percent growth and March's 0.3 percent improvement. From December through May, FNC reported an average monthly price growth of 0.4 percent, which annual appreciation rates (4.0 percent in May compared to May 2012) similarly leveling out.

Dykema, a leading law firm with more than a dozen offices across the United States, named Haydn J. Richards as director of its Financial Industry Group.

Citi also reported a 4 percent decline in retail banking revenues to $1.6 billion, "reflecting lower mortgage origination and servicing revenues."

WFG National Title Insurance Company announced it is now authorized to issue title insurance in the state of Michigan.

The Index of Consumer Sentiment, published by the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters twice each month (one preliminary reading and one final reading), dropped to 83.9 from June's final value of 84.1. The median forecast among economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 84.7. Amna Asaf, economist at analytics firm Capital Economics, said the drop "was probably a reaction to the decline in equity prices in late-June and early-July. The expectations index, meanwhile, fell from 77.8 to a three-month low of 73.8.

In Georgia, Xerox Mortgage Services named Ken Marlin as its new VP and general manager.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released another new monthly survey measuring mortgage loan application activity on new single-family properties for lenders affiliated with homebuilders.