Servicing

Two subordinated tranches from two mortgage-backed securitizations issued by Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp. in 2001 and 2002 have been placed under review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service.The affected securities are class B-3 of series 2001-2 and class VII-M-2 of series 2002-AR31. The actions were based on the fact that the bonds' credit enhancement levels "may be low" in view of projected losses for the current rating level, Fitch said.

Three tranches of Solstice ABS CDO Ltd. have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades in the collateralized debt obligation were as follows: class B notes, from AA-minus to BB-plus; class C notes, from BBB to CC; and preference shares, from B to C. Fitch said the downgrades stemmed from "continued collateral deterioration leading to a decline in the coverage ratios." The percentage of collateral rated CCC-plus and below has increased from 9% to 24% since Aug. 31, 2004, Fitch said. Solstice consists of 40.6% residential mortgage-backed securities, 36.0% CDOs, 12.3% asset-backed securities, 5.5% corporate debt securities, 3.8% commercial MBS, and 1.8% real estate investment trusts. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Freddie Mac has set Dec. 1 as the date on which it will make new loan-level disclosures available for its newly issued single-family fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgage Participation Certificate securities.The government-sponsored enterprise added that "shortly thereafter" it plans to disclose "certain algorithms and business rules used to produce loan-level information for each pool in addition to those used to derive pool-level disclosures." Market participants will be able to download the new loan-level detail for each new PC online at http://www.freddiemac.com/mbs.

Even though the mortgage industry is seeing signs of declining production, employment in the sector surged to a new high in September, according to government figures released Nov. 4.Mortgage banking and brokerage firms employed 529,300 full-timers at the end of September -- a 10% gain compared with the total recorded in the same month last year and a 0.68% increase from the total in August. The Department of Labor says the "real estate credit" industry (mortgage bankers) employed 392,900 workers at September's end while mortgage and "nonmortgage" loan brokers employed 136,400. (Some nonmortgage jobs are probably represented in the numbers.) Mortgage rates have been rising over the past month. As MortgageWire neared its deadline, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note stood at 4.66%.

Mortgage lender Doral Financial Corp., San Juan, Puerto Rico, has reported total loan production of $1.40 billion for the third quarter, up from $1.35 billion a year earlier, and reiterated that it does not expect to meet its previous target of Nov. 10 for filing restated annual and quarterly reports.The delay in filing its amended 2004 annual report and quarterly reports for the first two quarters of this year is "primarily attributable" to new information on Doral's mortgage loan sales to local financial institutions that could affect the accounting treatment of the transactions as sales under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 140, the company said. Doral also reported that it has been notified by The Nasdaq Stock Market that its three series of preferred stock will be delisted as of Nov. 3. The company said it plans to seek a relisting or alternative listing of the shares. Doral is the largest residential mortgage lender in Puerto Rico.

The National Home Equity Mortgage Association has announced that it is lending support to the effort by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers to provide relief for mortgage professionals whose businesses and homes were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.NHEMA said it is encouraging its members to contribute to the NAMB Hurricane Relief Fund. The association said its support is "part of an unprecedented effort by nonprime mortgage lenders, brokers, and the entire mortgage industry to help Katrina victims." NHEMA can be found on the Web at http://www.nhema.org.

MacKenzie Patterson Fuller Inc., San Francisco, and its affiliates have announced an offer to buy up to 500,000 shares of AmeriVest Properties common stock for $4 per share.The price represents a premium of 9.59% over the stock's closing price on Oct. 28, and a premium of 13.54% over the trailing 10-day average closing price, MPF said. The company and its affiliates now own approximately 329,350 shares of AmeriVest. When added to the 500,000 shares sought via the offer, it would result in ownership of about 3.45% of that company's outstanding shares, MPF said. The company can be found online at http://www.mpfi.com.

IndyMac Bancorp Inc., Pasadena, Calif., the holding company for IndyMac Bank FSB, has reported earnings of $79.3 million ($1.18 per share) for the third quarter under generally accepted accounting principles, compared with $49.7 million ($0.78 per share) a year earlier.IndyMac produced a record $17.0 billion of mortgage loans in the third quarter, up 64% from the level of a year earlier, the company said. "Taking out the $0.05 per share costs related to the Gulf Coast hurricanes, IndyMac's earnings would have been $1.23 per share, our best ever on an operating basis, exceeding the $1.21 per share operating run rate we reported last quarter," said Michael W. Perry, IndyMac's chairman and chief executive officer. The mortgage pipeline totaled a record $8.9 billion as of Sept. 30, up 39% from that of a year earlier, the company said. IndyMac can be found online at http://www.indymacbank.com.

Twelve classes from five issues of Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp. mortgage-backed securities have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 1997-2, class B-4, from B-plus to CC; series 2001-2, classes B-3 and B-4, from B to CC; series 2002-5 G4, class IVB2, from A to BBB, class IVB3, from A to BBB, class IVB4, from BBB to BB, and class IVB5, from CCC to C; series 2002-18 G2, class IIB3, from BBB-plus to BB, class IIB4, from BB to CCC, and class IIB5, from CCC to C; and series 2002-24 G1, class IB3, from BBB to BB, and class IB4, from CCC to C. In addition, Fitch upgraded 16 classes and affirmed the ratings on 28 others from 11 CSFB issues. The downgrades reflect the deterioration of credit enhancement relative to monthly losses, which have been consistent or rising, the rating agency said. The mortgage loans consist of fixed and adjustable-rate, 15- and 30-year mortgages extended to prime borrowers and are secured by first and second liens, primarily on one- to four-family residential properties.

A study that examines the prevalence of real estate foreclosure sales and the depth of discounts around the United States has been released by First American Real Estate Solutions, Anaheim, Calif.The company said the study quantifies the correlation between foreclosures as a percentage of total sales and the size of the discounts buyers typically receive when purchasing foreclosure properties. For example, foreclosure sales accounted for 1.6% of total sales in the first half of 2005 in Maricopa County, Ariz., and the median discount was 6.3%, whereas such sales represented 7.9% of total sales in St. Louis, and the median discount was 29.5%, First American RES reported. The study, titled "Residential Foreclosures: The Prevalence, the Power and the Opportunity," was conducted by Christopher Cagan, director of research and analytics at First American RES. The company can be found online at http://www.firstamres.com.