The House voted 409 to 5 in favor of extending the tax homebuyers credit for closing mortgages.

The Senate can approve the measure in the next 24 hours, and with Presidential ratification, it's possible that no contracts fall through the cracks with the current deadline of June 30 looming.

As it stands, homes currently under offer will be provided three more months to close in order to be eligible to receive the credit.

Mortgage finance players were not surprised and reacted mutedly and with full expectations the bill will become law. One secondary market trader said in an email stream that he half expects the tax credit to come back after a few more rounds of dismal housing stats.

Another said that the bill represents no new money coming to market and therefore, no change to their outlook for housing finance.

Write to Jacob Gaffney.

When it comes to transparency in the commercial real estate market, a number of European markets are catching up with the traditional leaders, according to the latest two-yearly index by real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL: 75.63 +0.42%).

Sweeden, Ireland and France now rank among the top-ten most transparent commercial property markets compared to the 2006-2008 report, catching up with some of the traditional leaders — Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.

Of the 15 global markets that moved up in rankings, nine are in Europe and the other six are in the Asia Pacific.

The US now ranks 6 in the GRETI 2010 highly transparent markets list:

The United States slipped four spots since the last JLL global CRE transparency index. By way of comparison, Ireland moved up two places, Sweden three and France four spots.

"It suggests that the recent turmoil in global financial, economic and real estate markets has impacted on market behavior, with real estate players focusing on survival rather than market advancement," said Jacques Gordon, global head of strategy for LaSalle Investment Management, in a statement.

He added: "It is interesting to note that the most highly transparent countries experienced illiquidity and volatility over last two years, despite their positions at the top of the transparency rankings."

The US boasts the highest score globally in market fundamentals, and also ranks high in the performance measurement category. The US scores relatively lower in the regulatory and legal category, as well as the transaction process category.

Interests are typically aligned between management and shareholders in the majority of US real estate investment trusts (REITs), though at times a misalignment can compromise the country's score in the regulatory and legal category, Jones Lang LaSalle said.

The availability of information on pre-sales brings down the US transaction process sub-index score, and the country has not obtained a highly-transparent rating on lending regulations.

Write to Diana Golobay.

Disclosure: the author holds no relevant investments.

An amendment to the Wall Street Reform Bill that would eliminate the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) survived congressional debates last week, according to one representative’s office.

A congressional conference last week took place to reconcile both versions of the House and Senate financial reform bills. As it stands now, the HVCC would be eliminated 90 days after the bill is signed. A new set of “appraisal independence standards” would replace it, according to the bill.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) implemented HVCC in May 2009 in an attempt to improve the independence of appraisers by prohibiting lenders and third parties from influencing appraisals. It’s a controversial regulation, leading to an increase in demand for appraisal management companies (AMCs) and complaints from independent appraisers who claim they’re being cut out of the market.

But the “appraisal independence standards” will be written and announced 60 days after the bill is passed. The bill, unlike HVCC, allows Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to accept any appraisal report completed by an appraiser selected or paid by a mortgage loan originator.

The bill also stipulates that the new standards will include a requirement that lenders and their agents pay appraisers at market rates.

The new standards will still subject loan originators to any state or federal laws that prohibit it from making payments, threats or promises to an appraiser to influence the work. But nothing in the standards will prohibit a person with an interest in the transaction from asking the appraiser to consider other information, provide further detail or correct errors in the appraisal.

Despite the efforts to end HVCC, some independent appraisers are still concerned with the bill's language. Frank Leogrande, of Grande Appraisals in Oviedo, Fla., said fees for appraisals have dropped 40%, while fees for homeowners continue to climb.

“I don't think the language is strong enough to save the independent appraiser,” Leogrande said. “What's more, AMCs are still left in control of the lenders, who now own the entire process. It will take a class-action suit for fee equity to save the appraiser, but that will be years in the future.”

Vladimir Bien-Aime, the CEO of Global DMS, which built a Web-based valuation management platform said earlier in the year that HVCC should stay.

“Before HVCC, let’s face it, the door was wide open to loans containing inflated appraised values. In order to avoid the problems of the past decade, we need to do everything we can to protect the integrity of collateral valuations,” Bien-Aime said. “Is HVCC perfect? No. Is it necessary? Absolutely.”

The FHFA did not immediately have a comment.

Write to Jon Prior.

Quicken Loans is adding new loan data and analytic workflow functions to its residential mortgage origination business. To do this, the company licensed technology from Response Analytics, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based developer of what it calls "financial services optimization" software.

Quicken Loans originates mortgages across the United States through its Web-based retail platform. The company said it is the biggest online-based mortgage lender and the country's fifth largest overall.

If these facts are true, it would represent a huge jump in market share. In 2008, Quicken ranked 24 in originations by volume at $12m — or less than one percent of the market. Typically, a fifth-ranked originator will hold close to a 7 to 9 percent market share.

The new operational technology comes as Quicken Loans is in the process of consolidating multiple corporate offices to a central location in downtown Detroit. The current corporate headquarters are located in the western Detroit suburb of Livonia.

“The selection of our solution by Quicken Loans validates the growing recognition that the new realities of today’s markets require new solutions,” said Response Analytics CEO Brent Lippman in a press statement. “New solutions that not only utilize the investments companies have made in models, data and systems, but also weave these disparate pieces together to provide business value and speed.”

The Response Analytics software interfaces with multiple data sources, models, internal systems and external fulfillment services, serving as a single platform for loan monitoring and reporting.

“Response Analytics’ software will be very useful in helping us continue to evaluate our partners’ portfolios, while ensuring we continue to maintain the efficiency that has been the hallmark of Quicken Loans,” said Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson.

Write to Austin Kilgore.