Finance

The Ocwen spinoff Altisource Portfolio Services delivered notices to more than 800 employees and hundreds of contractors this week as part of the company's scramble to reassure investors.

Apartment financing markets began the year on solid footing, according to a recent survey from the National Multifamily Housing Council.

Mortgage-focused real estate investment trusts, including those affiliated with Western Asset Management and Pine River Capital Management, are backing loans to Americans who don't meet banks' requirements.

Commercial mortgage-backed security performance could come under further strain this year, as the underwriting on the underlying commercial mortgages continues to loosen. Here are eight indicators to consider in sizing up the CMBS market this year.

Bank of America's expenses still far exceed those of JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, so analysts were clearly disappointed Thursday when CEO Brian Moynihan failed to outline any specific plans for further lowering overhead.

Invitation Homes is sticking to the same large loan model of past single-family rental securitizations in its first deal of 2015.

The Supreme Court has denied an appeal from several banks regarding a lawsuit filed by NCUA concerning the sale of mortgage-backed securities that contributed to the failure of two corporate credit unions more than seven years ago.

Blackstone Group is offering the first securities of 2015 tied to rental homes, the start of what Morgan Stanley analysts predict may be a more than doubling of issuance this year in the nascent market for such debt.

A federal agency's plan to tighten membership rules for Federal Home Loan banks would hurt community banks and credit unions — and could endanger the financial system, according to a broad array of stakeholders, including state regulators, lawmakers and institutions.

Government-backed U.S. mortgage bonds are off to their worst start relative to Treasuries since at least 1997 as investors in the $5.5 trillion market brace for a surge in homeowner refinancing.

Two Harbors' first residential mortgage securitization of the year doesn't exactly break any new ground.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have boosted risk-sharing transactions in the past year by more than fourfold, according to Fitch Ratings.

The unpaid principal balance of delinquent commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquencies fell by 23% as of Dec. 31 compared with the same day one year prior in 2013, according to Fitch Ratings.

Capital markets hold the key to the future for the consolidating Wall Street landlords, but the path through is downright bloody.

CMBS issuance is set to resume as industry players returned to their desks following last week's annual industry shindig hosted by the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council in Miami.

Fears that lower Federal Housing Administration premiums will negatively affect private mortgage insurance firms are overblown. If anything, the plan should be a modest positive for the overall housing market.

Standard & Poor's is close to a settlement of about $1 billion with the U.S. for allegedly misleading investors about its ratings of mortgage-backed securities before the subprime crisis.

Freddie Mac in the next month plans to approve three more lenders, including one bank, to make multifamily loans between $1 million and $5 million for GSE purchase and securitization, according to an official. Banks were not initially courted.

Freddie Mac's first three risk-sharing transactions of 2015 are all insurance policies.

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Nomura Holdings Inc., refusing to derail federal government lawsuits that seek billions of dollars over the sale of risky mortgage-backed securities.