Mortgage

It was announced weeks ago that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a master plan for speeding up and improving the short sales process, but the new guidelines issued are being criticized by the real estate industry as unrealistic.

Although foreclosure sales have slid and inventory levels have increased, the housing sector continues showing signs of improvement, but much of the recovery for delinquent loans depends upon what type of state each loan is in.

Two trends are made clear this week as the volume of mortgage applications remains steady, with slight increases and decreases, as refinances account for less and less of all mortgage applications.

After a year of testing, Costco has partnered with eleven lenders to provide a mortgage lending service to its shoppers, be it someone in need of a new loan, or someone looking to refinance. The service is similar to LendingTree but is not a lead generation platform, so information stays private.

After selling off their banking assets, MetLife has announced that they are exiting the reverse mortgage business and selling their portfolios to Nationstar Mortgage, as they shut down all non-insurance and benefits divisions.

After weeks of improvement, and a week of backsliding, mortgage application volume continues to edge up, then slip backward and the refinance share of mortgage activity continues to decrease week by week.

The number of mortgages that are at least 30 days delinquent hit nearly 5.6 million in March, and LPS reports that the decline in delinquency levels for the month does not necessarily spell out a housing recovery.

Home prices continue to slide, regardless of other improving economic indicators, which presents a major challenge to a housing recovery, particularly in cities like Las Vegas which is down 61.7 percent from its peak and Phoenix down 54.2 from its peak.