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W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, LLC, a privately held independent mortgage firm headquartered in Colorado, announced its expansion into the greater Midwestern region through a new partnership with the Chicago-based PinPoint Mortgage.

Releasing the company's most recent Real Estate Index, Winans Investments is declaring that housing's bear market is over. Tempering the survey's positive findings, however, the company's economists emphasized that changes in tax laws could slow or stop the market's recovery trends.

Trulia, a leading online real estate marketplace operating out of San Francisco, announced the appointment of industry veteran Alon Chaver as VP of industry services. Chaver most recently served as the co-founder and CEO of iHomeFinder, serving brokers and multiple listing services (MLSs) across the country for more than 15 years.

Home prices were up 6.3 percent year-over-year in October, according to CoreLogic's most recent Home Price Index (HPI) report. The rise represents the biggest yearly increase since June 2006 and marks the eighth consecutive month in which prices rose on an annual basis. October's strength is expected to carry into November, as well. The CoreLogic Pending HPI shows that November prices (including distressed sales) are anticipated to rise about 7.1 percent year-over-year.

Baseball's all-time "Iron Man" has joined forces with NewDay USA, the Maryland-based company announced. Cal Ripken Jr., former Baltimore Oriole and one of the diamond's greatest legends, has been brought on to serve as spokesperson for the lender's philanthropic activities and community outreach efforts. He will also promote the education and training programs of NewDay USA University, the company's mortgage banking training initiative.

American International Group, Inc. (AIG), announced Tuesday that Kim Garland, president and CEO of AIG mortgage insurance subsidiary United Guaranty Corporation (UGC), will transfer to AIG Property Casualty to serve as chief underwriting officer for global consumer insurance.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced the launch of a tool designed to provide data on the housing recovery in the region.

Construction spending during October was at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of $872.1 billion, according to an estimate from the Census Bureau. Spending on private construction was at an annual rate of $592.1 billion in October, up about $9.4 billion (1.6 percent) from September's revised $582.7 billion. Spending on homebuilding made up a little less than half of that total, reaching an annual rate of $294.2 billion (up 3.0 percent from September and 20.8 percent from October 2011).

In the United Kingdom, HSBC is responding to market demand by rolling out the financial institution's lowest-ever two-year fixed rate mortgage. Announcing the new offering, HSBC revealed that borrowers can secure a 1.99 percent fixed rate with a 40 percent deposit or home equity value.

A month before her swearing-in, Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is already making waves in Washington. The Huffington Post reports Warren has been selected to fill a soon-to-be-open seat on the Senate Banking Committee. The position is just the latest in a string of regulatory oversight roles for Warren, who has built a political career out of being "a tough cop on the beat for Wall Street."