Servicing

A rather rough quarter for Bank of America still resulted in a better-than-anticipated quarterly net income of $340 million, the bank reported.

Mortgage applications continued to fall last as long-term fixed mortgage rates rose, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported.

Home equity revolving credit hit a three-year high in July, signaling continued growth in housing confidence, Equifax said in a report. The company's October National Consumer Credit Trends Report showed new home equity revolving lines of credit totaled more than $44 billion year-to-date through July. First mortgages contracted 3.4 percent year-over-year, but severely delinquent mortgages have also fallen off since their peak, reaching a total balance of $419 billion in September.

The median sales price for homes sold in September continued to move higher yearly and monthly while sales stalled from August, according to a housing report from RE/MAX, which tracks MLS data in 52 metropolitan areas. The median sales price in September was $164,989, a slight 0.7 percent increase from August and a 7.8 percent improvement from September 2011. So far, prices have been rising yearly for eight straight months.

A study released by Interest.com shows homes are only truly affordable in about half of the nation's major cities.

Famed Los Angeles mansion, Chateau d'Or, is still on the market, but the property's sellers recently initiated a significant price reduction, dropping the listing from $40 million to just $25 million. The 26,00o-square-foot home, located in the city's Bel Air neighborhood, boasts 15 bedrooms and 16.5 bathrooms, and may be "better suited to Disneyland," according to Curbed.

Announcing an acquisition deal with Thomas Linderman Graham Inc., a commercial real estate services company in Raleigh, North Carolina, Canada-based Avison Young is continuing its U.S. expansion. Through its purchase agreement with Thomas Linderman Graham, Avison Young will open two new offices in the state.

According to the FHFA, the government's Home Affordable Refinance Program is on target to reach a million borrowers this year.

The default rate for first mortgages now stands at a post-recession low, and the default rate for second mortgages is at the lowest level in its more than 8-year history, according to data through September from the S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian for the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices. The first mortgage default rate fell to 1.36 percent in September, the lowest level since the end of the 2007/2009 recession. At the same time, the second mortgage default rate bottomed to 0.64 percent, down from 0.72 percent in August.

The California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) continued to report a shortage of inventory in September, which is limiting home sales but seems to be pushing up median home prices. According to C.A.R., the median home price in California is now at the highest level in more than four years. Sales, on the other hand, fell in September, sinking 5.2 percent from a revised 510,910 in August and declined 1.2 percent from a revised 490,280 a year ago.