Companies agree to $1.6 million settlement in title reinsurance probe

A national mortgage lender and two major home builders who engaged in captive title reinsurance have reached a $1.6 million settlement with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD announced today.

HUD has reached a $650,000 settlement with CitiMortgage Inc. and its captive title reinsurance company, Chesapeake Reinsurance; a $675,000 settlement with M.D.C.  more...

Mortgage-hedging losses drive down profits at National City

National City Corp. reports its second-quarter profits fell 24 percent from a year ago, attributing the decline to hedging losses on mortgages.

The Cleveland, Ohio-based bank reported net income for the quarter was $473 million, up $14 million from last quarter but down from the $625 million reported in second-quarter 2005. Profits for the first half of the year are $932 million, compared with $1.1 billion in the first six months of 2005.  more...

Wells Fargo reports record profits despite losses on ARMs

Wells Fargo says it generated record profits of $2.09 billion in the second quarter, despite taking a $250 million loss on the sale of $26 billion in adjustable-rate mortgages and other loans.

Diluted earnings per share were a record $1.23, up 10 percent from $1.12 in second-quarter 2005 and 13 percent (annualized) from first-quarter 2006.The bank's profits for the quarter were up 9 percent over last year, and revenue was also up 12 percent, hitting a record $8.79 billion.

"Our strong 12 perce  more...

Online job ads increase nationwide

New, unduplicated online job ads grew 3 percent in June from the previous month, with the largest supply per capita located along the nation's East and West coasts, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series, released today.

Some 81,800 new online job ads were posted last month to more than 1,200 Internet job boards nationwide, bringing the total number of postings to approximately 2.44 million.

The number of new ads for online jobs in June marks a new peak for the series, surpassing the previous high in March 2006 of 2.4 million.  more...

Real estate companies beef up franchises

Two real estate franchise companies today announced additions to their real estate networks.

GMAC Real Estate Franchise Operations today announced the addition of 11 more franchisees throughout major American markets.  more...

Los Angeles Newspaper Group launches real estate platform

The Indigio Group announced this week the launch of its online real estate platform by The Los Angeles Newspaper Group at SoCalHomeSite.com.  more...

Real estate foreclosures slow in June

The number of U.S. properties entering the foreclosure process dipped in June from the previous month, but were considerably higher than a year ago, according to an industry report released today.

A total of 88,195 properties entered some stage of foreclosure in June, down 5 percent from one month earlier, but were still 17 percent above the June 2005 level, according to RealtyTrac's June foreclosure market report. The report shows a June national foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 1,311 U.S.  more...

Canadian real estate markets set records in first-half '06

Resale housing activity in Canada's major markets in the first half of 2006 set a new record for the first six months of any year, The Canadian Real Estate Association reported this week.

Sales activity is on pace to set a new annual record this year despite expected softening in the second half of the year, the association reported.

Actual unadjusted home sales via the multiple listing service in Canada's major markets totaled 186,177 units in the first half of 2006, a 3.6 percent rise over the previous record for first-half acti  more...

Overnight real estate rates hold steady

Long-term mortgage interest rates held steady Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield inched up to 5.07 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average was unchanged at 6.31 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate decreased slightly to 6.01 percent. The 1-year adjustable also fell slightly to 5.46 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield was unchanged at 5.11 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...