Finance

The Multifamily Lenders Council, a trade group representing companies that originate and service Federal Housing Administration-insured multifamily mortgages, states President Obama isn't doing enough to assist affordable rental housing.

With commercial real estate lenders continuing to slowly relax their underwriting standards, CMBS investors can't overlook the corresponding rise in risk.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reached a preliminary settlement to pay $500 million to resolve a lawsuit over $17.6 billion of faulty mortgage-backed securities issued by Bear Stearns.

FirstKey Mortgage, an entity linked to Cerberus Capital Management, is planning a securitization of reperforming residential mortgages, according to Fitch Ratings.

The Senate approved legislation to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, sending it to President Obama's desk after a months-long battle.

The price of loans securing commercial mortgage-backed securities increased in November, according to DebtX.

Mortgage credit availability loosened in December, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

After the release of President Obama's plan to make housing more affordable by cutting mortgage-insurance premiums charged by a federal agency, bond investors responded by pushing up interest rates on the same loans.

Private mortgage insurance stocks tumbled Wednesday amid news that President Obama is expected to announce cuts to the Federal Housing Administration's annual premiums.

SecurityNational Mortgage has made its final payment on a $4.3 million financial crisis-era settlement with Wells Fargo.

President Obama is expected to announce a half-percentage-point reduction in the Federal Housing Administration's annual premium during a housing policy speech Thursday in Phoenix.

Consumers remained cautious about the housing market in December despite optimism that the economy is improving, according to Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey.

The diversity of the U.S. population is at a tipping point and originators need to prepare to serve the needs of this growing pool of customers.

Angelo Gordon & Co. is seeking to raise as much as $750 million for a fund to invest in soured mortgages as banks and government agencies sell boom-era home loans at discounts.

The amount of commercial mortgage debt maturing is set to spike this year, when loans taken out during the height of the real estate bubble start coming due.

Takeovers among real estate investment trusts are poised to accelerate as shareholder activism increases and executives become more receptive to deals, according to research firm Green Street Advisors.

The residential and mortgage-backed securities market has seen "substantial improvements," according to Fitch Ratings.

Mortgage denials in 2013 were comparable to those recorded a decade ago, analyses of HMDA data show, challenging perceptions about how easy lending really was during the era of "pulse" loans and "fog-a-mirror finance."

When reading a CBO report, be sure to read all the words, carefully.

Federal Savings Bank in Chicago has agreed to buy Baytree National Bank & Trust in Lake Forest, Ill.