(Courtesy of Housing Matters and Wall Street Journal): Mortgage lenders are starting to relax the standards for borrowers with high credit scores, Federal Reserve data show, but standards for those who represent more risk remain tight. Federal Reserve officials question whether efforts to rein in the lending heyday that led to the recession have gone too far to the other extreme. MORE

(Courtesy of HUD's "Evidence Matters"): According to the latest article from HUD's "Evidence Matter": 

• Creditworthy low-income and minority families face significant barriers to sustainable homeownership, a major vehicle for building wealth and economic opportunity; 
• Access to sustainable homeownership is expanded with fiscal assistance, housing counseling, sound lending, flexible underwriting that ensures the ability to pay, and backing by FHA's mortgage insurance; and
• Efforts to make homeownership accessible to low-income and minority households ultimately depend on economic recovery, a healthy housing market, and increased protections for consumers, investors, and taxpayers.  MORE

(Courtesy HUD): The Administration tracks progress towards stabilizing the nation's housing market with a monthly scorecard issued by HUD and the U.S. Department of Treasury. The latest data show important progress across many key indicators- as home values continue to rise and home sales remained strong in April. The annual increase in home prices is the highest in nearly seven years and sales of existing and new homes are both up over 10 percent from one year ago. Officials caution, however, that the overall recovery remains fragile. MORE

(Courtesy of OCC): More than 2.4 million checks related to the Independent Foreclosure Review have been cashed or deposited for nearly $2.2 billion through May 16, 2013.  To date, more than 3.9 million checks, totaling more than $3.4 billion, have been sent to eligible borrowers. The first wave of checks was sent April 12. A final wave of checks that required additional information from the borrower will be issued during the summer.  The payments result from agreements between the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, and 13 servicers to provide $3.6 billion in payments to borrowers whose homes were in any stage of the foreclosure process in 2009 or 2010 and whose mortgages were serviced by one of the following companies, their affiliates, or subsidiaries: Aurora, Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, Morgan Stanley, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo.  MORE

(Courtesy of Housing Matters): Testifying at a Senate committee hearing recently, housing experts offered several suggestions for restructuring the U.S. housing finance system so that it relies more on private capital. Among them: ending government guarantees for jumbo mortgages and converting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into regulated cooperatives with a smaller role in mortgage financing. MORE