Servicing

Fannie Mae reported a 72% spike in loan repurchase requests in the first quarter, a sign that the GSE’s legacy portfolio is continuing to deteriorate in quality.

Redwood Trust Inc., Mill Valley, Calif., earned $18 million in the first quarter, a 61% decline from the same period a year ago as lower net interest revenue and negative valuation adjustments took a bite out of its performance.

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., Milwaukee, reported it had nearly 1,100 more cures than new notices of default for April, the third month in a row this has happened.

There are still a lot of questions about the future of the secondary mortgage market and the excesses from the downturn left to clear. But there was more of a sense at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s conference this year that, despite these outstanding issues, folks are more focused on moving ahead with their business to the extent possible.

Home values showed the sharpest quarterly declines since 2008, falling 3% in the first quarter this year, according to Zillow’s real estate market report.

MountainView Servicing Group LLC still hopes to sell a $262 million bulk package of Fannie Mae servicing rights after the portfolio did not trade by its initial bid deadline.

Gramercy Capital Corp., New York, has defaulted on $791 million in first mortgage and mezzanine loans, as the loans reached their latest maturity date without a payment being made.

Freddie Mac expects to price an offering of about $1.1 billion in structured multifamily mortgage pass through securities during the week of May 16 for settlement on May 26 or thereabouts.

Alan Todd plans to join Bank of America Merrill Lynch in August as head of U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities research.

A prominent Republican is raising concerns about covered bonds and the risks they may pose to the federal deposit insurance fund.