The Lede

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., reported 38,000 completed foreclosures in January, a 16 percent increase from December, but said the nation's foreclosure inventory continued its steady drop.

First, the good news: Zillow Inc., Seattle, reported fewer homeowners underwater, with the national negative equity rate falling to 13.1 percent in the fourth quarter.

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said one million borrowers regained equity in 2015, bringing the total number of mortgaged residential properties with equity at the end of the fourth quarter to 46.3 million, or 91.5 percent of all mortgaged properties.

LRES, Orange, Calif., issued a free white paper, What Mortgage Servicers Need to Know to Prevent Liens from Destroying Investor Profits.

As the House and Senate Budget Committees take up fiscal 2017 spending bills, the Mortgages Bankers Association and more than a dozen industry trade groups reiterated their opposition to use of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac guarantee fees to offset unrelated appropriations.

MBA NewsLink recently posed questions to Pramod Karachur, project manager with IndiSoft LLC, Columbia, Md.

Equifax, Atlanta, reported the total balance of outstanding first mortgages rose to more than $8.3 trillion in January, a 2.1 percent increase from a year ago.

MBA Education presents another in its popular Compliance Essentials series. The webinar, TCPA Compliance: Overview and Challenges, takes place on Wednesday, Mar. 23 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET.

Bloomberg, Mar. 10, 2016 With U.S. mortgage rates near their lowest level since April and showing signs of falling further, some lenders are preparing for another refinancing wave, an unexpected development after the Federal Reserve began hiking short-term interest rates in December.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 14, 2016--Glazer, Emily JPMorgan Chase & Co. is trying to sell new securities that would pass along most of the credit risk on $1.9 billion in mortgages, in an attempt to revive a debt market that has been largely left to the government since the financial crisis.

Scotsman Guide, Mar. 14, 2016--Whitman, Victor Mortgage industry trade groups have renewed a push to prevent future raids on the guarantee fees (g-fees) collected by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 14, 2016--Wack, Kevin Prosper Marketplace on Monday announced a three-year agreement to offer financing to consumers making improvements to their homes through the website HomeAdvisor.com.

Reuters, Mar. 14, 2016 The amount of outstanding U.S. mortgages for multifamily homes rose to $1.06 trillion in 2015, up 10.4 percent from a year earlier, which was its fastest annual pace since 1993, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Monday.

Bloomberg, Mar. 19, 2016--Matthews, Steve The 2006-2009 housing slump reduced wealth by $7 trillion. Since then, the value of homeowners' equity in real estate has more than doubled from a low in the first quarter of 2009, a Federal Reserve report today showed. What's more, housing wealth is poised to reach a new record as early as the second quarter.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 10, 2016--Sinnock, Bonnie QRM clarified the rules of the road for securitizations. Now, participants in the MBS world seeking better margins are looking beyond the safe harbor--to the subprime space.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 10, 2016--Martin, Timothy W. S&P, Moody's and Fitch issue more than 95% of global bond ratings, and profits are nearing record highs.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 10, 2016--Rexrode, Christina; Glazer, Emily Billions of dollars from bank settlements are going to homeowners--but the path to get it into their hands can be complicated.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 8, 2016--Brown, Eliot New signs of weakness are surfacing in the commercial-property market, ending a half-decade run of improvement with steadily climbing values.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 9, 2016--Peters, Andy Radian Group named Jeff Tennyson interim president for its Clayton Holdings unit after its previous president quit.

HousingWire, Mar. 9, 2016--Thompson, Kelsey Primary new mortgage insurance grew 5.5% from last year, inching up from $165.8 billion to $174.9 billion, MGIC Investment's February operational summery of its insurance subsidiaries for its primary mortgage insurance reported.

Retuers, Mar. 10, 2016--Mukherjee, Aurindom California's public pension system, Calpers, said it reached a $130 million settlement with Moody's and Moody's Investors' Service to resolve a case involving inflated grades of residential mortgage deals that later faltered.

HousingWire, Mar. 9, 2016--Swanson, Brena The private-label securities market stands nowhere close to where it used to over the past eight years. The Urban Institute addresses in a blog what's going on in the PLS market, along with the areas that need still need a lot of groundwork in order to revive the market.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 9, 2016--Rexrode, Christina; Glazer, Emily Of $109.96 billion of federal fines related to the housing crisis since 2010, roughly $50 billion ended up with the U.S. government with little disclosure of what happened next.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 9, 2016--Karen, Ari New products and technology can help assure lenders that borrowers better understand their options and participate in lending decisions in real time during the origination process, and track and record those efforts for later use.

HousingWire, Mar. 8, 2016--Olson, Scott No one should be misled by the lack of comprehensive congressional action into thinking that GSE reform is on hold. Fundamental reforms already have or are now taking place--reforms that reduce risk, protect taxpayers and build on lessons we learned from the 2008 crisis.

Natonal Mortgage News, Mar. 8, 2016--Peters, Andy Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp. plans to change its pricing structure for borrower-paid policies.