Origination

As June--National Homeownership Month--approaches, NeighborWorks America is putting a spotlight on the thousands of new (and well-prepared) homeowners created in 2012.

Home prices posted their strongest yearly gain in almost seven years in March, with both the 10- and 20-city indices seeing double-digit gains, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday. The national index, reported quarterly, was up 10.2 percent. The three cities that showed no growth (and one of the cities in which prices fell for the month) were in the Midwest, indicating continuing struggles in the region. Nonetheless, March was an improvement over February.

As sellers hold their grip on the market, buyers are starting to understand what it's going to take to stay in the game, according to responses in Redfin's second-quarter Real-Time Home-Buyer Report. It was determined that although buyer frustration concerning the low amount of inventory continues to rise, there is an equal elevation in their individuals awareness and recognition of the seller's market, as well as an overall willingness to actually pay more out of pocket for purchasing real estate.

The last time both prices and sales of new homes increased in the same month was last September. What of course is missing from the two data sets is any indication of demand.

Carrington Real Estate Services, LLC announced the launch of MyFUELCenter, its mobile online resource for agents on the go.

GMH Mortgage Services LLC, a nationally-recognized mortgage banker headquartered in Pennsylvania, added Scott Medrow to its team as SVP of its National Mortgage Center and specialty products division.

Residential Capital (ResCap), Ally Financial's former mortgage subsidiary, announced Thursday it had filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for approval of the previously announced agreement with Ally and ResCap's major creditors. Under the plan support agreement announced mid-May, Ally will contribute $2.1 billion to the ResCap estate to settle any and all claims between ResCap and Ally and potential claims held by third parties in relation to ResCap.

The Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR) reported Wednesday that sales were up 25.3 percent year-over-year throughout the state. According to the association, statewide home sales (including single-family homes and condos) totaled 12,621 in April, the best performance for that month since 2007.

The number of homeowners underwater on their mortgages continued to fall in Q1, but millions still lack enough equity to afford to move, Zillow revealed in its first-quarter Negative Equity Report. According to the report, the national negative equity rate was 25.4 percent in the last quarter compared to 27.5 percent at the end of 2012. However, when including homeowners with less than 20 percent home equity, the "effective" negative equity rate is 43.6 percent, or 22.3 million homeowners.

Fixed mortgage rates trended higher for the third consecutive week, according to reports from Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com.