Finance

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have streamlined their refinancing requirements under the direction of the GSE regulator, but little has been done to ease restrictions on purchase mortgages.

Where industry credit limits stand and why was among the topics discussed by a group of industry executives convened by Origination News at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Secondary Market Conference in New York.

The upgrades of the master and primary servicer rating reflect the completion of Wells Fargo's Systems Process Integration project and subsequent operational improvements.

Recent rate volatility created some challenges in pricing Fannie Mae’s recent $1.02 billion DUS REMIC last week but investor demand remained stronger for shorter maturities and support bonds.

A proposal by Mortgage Resolution Partners, known for some controversial past plans that involved addressing underwater loan concerns with eminent domain, is slated to be considered by the North Las Vegas City Council this week.

Although post-crisis commercial mortgage-backed securities performance is pretty good so far, the trend toward minimal interest shortfalls returning to the sector is troublesome, according to Fitch.

Most attendees at the Mortgage Bankers Association's recent national secondary market conference think loan quality is pretty good right now, but some think underwriting is too tight.

The zigzag pattern of the stock market continued on Friday as 15 of 17 Mortgage Industry Equity Composite stocks closed lower.

There are three items contributing to the recent book value decline in mortgage real estate investment trust stocks: Prepay protection premiums evaporation; duration and duration extension risk; and mortgage basis risk.

Despite a respite from fresh waves of sweeping residential mortgage-backed securities downgrades due to better home prices, due to the still-high delinquency pipeline the risk of a ripple effect from some previous downgrades already in progress remains.

Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are marketing $1.5 billion of commercial mortgage-backed securities.

On the Mortgage Grapevine, poster Accptmort is looking for a commercial correspondent purchaser in Wisconsin who accepts loans or referrals from mortgage brokers.

DBRS found in a commercial mortgage-backed securities investor survey that the majority of respondents expect their holdings to increase over the next 12 months despite some concerns about loosening underwriting standards in the sector.

Gladstone Commercial Corp., McLean, Va., has hired Gladstone Securities LLC to be its non-exclusive agent to assist in arranging mortgage financing for its properties.

Commercial real estate loan collateralized debt obligation delinquencies fell in May to 12.7% from 13.2% in April, according to a Fitch report

Regulators, creditors, accountants and shareholders all have increased focus on this asset. Basel III implementation may further exacerbate this.

Standard and Poor’s finds some legislative and other uncertainties in the municipal housing sector, but the company expects ratings in it to remain fairly stable through at least the next 12 months.

Investors had a strong negative reaction to Newcastle Investment Corp. in the wake of the real estate investment trust’s upsizing and pricing of its public offering of 35 million shares of its common stock.

he percentage of commercial mortgage-backed securities loans paying off on their balloon date based on their balance in May slipped to 59.5% from 64.6% in April.

Deepak Narula rose to fame as manager of the best-performing hedge fund last year by navigating the government’s stimulus efforts. He’s having a harder time as the Federal Reserve moves closer to an exit.