Residential construction is on its way up, with building permit authorizations for privately owned housing units increasing by 8.1 percent from June to July and rising 7.7 percent from July 2013, according to data released on August 19 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Almost half of single homebuyers aged 25 to 50 reported that it was "very important" to them to own a home, according to Century 21's Singles Homebuyer Survey released on August 20.

The national mortgage delinquency rate declined for the 10th consecutive quarter in Q2 2014 and is at its lowest level since 2008, according to TransUnion's quarterly mortgage report. The rate of U.S. mortgage delinquencies, defined as those in which the borrower is more than 60 days delinquent on the mortgage account, fell from 3.61 percent in Q1 to 3.46 percent for Q2 (a change of 4.2 percent).

Ohio ranks fifth in the nation in foreclosure activity in July even after a 24 percent decrease from a year ago, according to recently released data from RealtyTrac.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a bulletin on August 19 for mortgage servicers, outlining how they should handle the loan transfer process. The bulletin includes a reminder to mortgage servicers to pay close attention to the new common-sense mortgaging rules implemented by the CFPB in January 2014, aimed at protecting consumers from being harmed during loan transfers.

Single family home and condominium sales in California experienced a month-over-month increase of 3.9 percent for July but saw a 9.2 percent decline year-over-year, according to PropertyRadar's July 2014 Real Property Report for California. Sales for single family homes and condos for the first seven months of 2014 year-to-date are at their lowest levels since 2008, the report stated.

While overall national consumer credit default has hit its lowest levels in 10 years, the first mortgage default rate continues to decline, according to the July 2014 S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices released on August 19.

The unemployment rate in Florida for July remained unchanged from the previous month at 6.2 percent despite losing 1,600 jobs from the payrolls, according to a report recently released by the Wells Fargo Securities Economics Group.

For the second time in as many days, New York-based hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management sued the U.S. government over the handling of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits.

A second quarter rebound combined with an upward revision for first quarter economic activity has given a boost to 2014 full-year economic expectations, according to the August 2014 Economic Outlook put together by Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group.