Most Federal Reserve officials foresee a continued slow recovery in the housing market and some are optimistic the improvement may pleasantly surprise their fellow members on the Federal Open Market Committee.

Impac Mortgage Holdings recorded a year-over-year expansion of its mortgage lending in the first quarter, but other costs produced a consolidated net loss of $4.8 million during the period.

When Residential Capital Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection it left behind a trail of unsecured creditors with claims totaling well over $1 billion.

Mortgage delinquencies continued on their downward path in the first quarter with 7.4% of all loans considered past due, the lowest reading since the third quarter of 2008.

A federal official told a group of third-party origination professionals angered by new proposed compensation and pricing restrictions that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would listen to their concerns and could still possibly change the proposals in line with them.

"Tell Congress in no uncertain terms that to get the economy moving again, it must stimulate housing and the peripheral real estate market," Moe Veissi, the Miami real estate broker who heads the National Association of Realtors, exhorted his minions at NAR's annual Midyear Legislative Meetings in the nation's capital.

A 13% increase in refinance applications led to a 9.2% seasonally adjusted increase in overall application volume for the week ended May 11.