Servicing

Moody's Investors Service has developed Australian methodology for servicer quality ratings."Moody's intends to roll out SQ Ratings for all mortgage servicers that service loan portfolios backing Australian RMBS," said Moody's analyst Kim Ly. "The publication of SQ Ratings will be subject to the servicer's approval." Moody's said that among the catalysts for the decision to rate Australian servicers have been "concerns that weakening house prices may lead to higher delinquencies and defaults." Moody's can be found on the Web at http://www.moodys.com.

Cendant Corp., New York, late Tuesday confirmed that it has ended talks with a potential buyer of its mortgage company.Mortgage officials told MortgageWire that the buyer was Countrywide Home Loans, Calabasas, Calif. In a statement Cendant Corp. said it has "terminated discussions with the party referred to" in a late July press release. Both Cendant and Countrywide never commented publicly that Countrywide was the potential buyer. The parent company said it, "will continue the process of receiving proposals and holding preliminary discussions with other parties regarding the sale of such business and, as previously stated, is also considering other strategic alternatives for the business." Cendant Mortgage is the 10th largest residential servicer and 11th largest lender in the U.S., according to the Quarterly Data Report.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are providing mortgage relief for Florida borrowers facing hardships as a result of the widespread flooding and damage caused by Hurricane Charley.Fannie Mae is giving lenders the discretion to help victims of the hurricane in several ways, including suspending mortgage payments for up to three months, reducing the payments for up to 18 months, or in more special cases, creating longer loan payback plans. Mortgage lenders doing business with Fannie will determine appropriate relief steps by considering any uninsured losses, extended unemployment and extraordinary expenses related to the storms that affect mortgage payments. Freddie Mac is encouraging servicers to reduce or suspend mortgage payments for up to 12 months for borrowers whose mortgages are owned by Freddie Mac. Freddie is also advising servicers to waive the assessment of penalties or late fees against borrowers with disaster-damaged homes, not report forbearance or delinquencies caused by the disaster to the nation's credit bureaus, and expedite the release of insurance proceeds.

Loan purchases by Fannie Mae fell to $55.57 billion in July, the mortgage giant's worst showing since February, according to figures released by the company.Compared to the same month a year ago loan purchases fell by 61%. However, Fannie's portfolio grew 2.1% (annualized) in July to $893 billion as rising rates slowed prepayment speeds. Fannie, like most participants in the mortgage market, is suffering from a slowdown in production -- in particular refinancings -- which limits the amount of mortgages it can purchase in the secondary market. However, the production slowdown is allowing the company to continue growth in its balance sheet. July marks the second month in a row that Fannie grew its portfolio. The previous eight months the GSE suffered portfolio declines.

Countrywide Home Loans, Calabasas, Calif., is now the largest subprime residential servicer in the nation, according to new rankings compiled by National Mortgage News.At the end of June Countrywide serviced $58.07 billion in subprime home mortgages, a 104% increase from the same period last year, according to exclusive rankings compiled for NMN's Quarterly Data Report. For several quarters Countrywide has been creeping up on Household Finance, Prospect Heights, Ill., and CitiFinancial, Baltimore, which have dominated the subprime servicing landscape for several years. At the end of June Household (which is owned by HSBC) ranked second among subprime servicers with $56 billion, followed by CitiFinancial ($54 billion). Countrywide, at the end of June, was the nation's largest overall servicer with $726 billion.

Deutsche Bank, whose U.S. headquarters are in New York, has agreed to acquire the mortgage origination and servicing assets of commercial lender Berkshire Mortgage Finance Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of The Berkshire Group, Boston.Berkshire Mortgage specializes in providing funding for multi-family properties using government-sponsored enterprise and government-insured products. It did $3.5 million in loan volume in 2003 and has a servicing portfolio of over $18 billion. Upon closing Berkshire Mortgage will become part of Deutsche Bank's global Real Estate Debt Markets group. Douglas Krupp, chairman of The Berkshire Group, said "our divestiture of Berkshire Mortgage is consistent with our long-term strategy of creating new businesses, growing those businesses to be market leaders and creating significant value for our equity holders." Berkshire Mortgage was formed in 1987. Its headquarters are, and will remain in, Boston. It also has platform offices in Bethesda, Md., and Irvine, Calif. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Two classes of CWMBS (IndyMac) Inc. mortgage pass-through certificates have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.Class B3 of CWMBS (IndyMac) 2000-F (RAST 2000-A6) mortgage pass-through certificates was downgraded from CCC to C, and class B3 of CWMBS (IndyMac) 2000-G (RAST 2000-A7) mortgage pass-through certificates was downgraded from B to CCC. In addition, Fitch upgraded eight classes and affirmed the ratings on eight other classes from five CWMBS (IndyMac) deals. Fitch attributed the downgrades to loss levels and high delinquencies in relation to the applicable credit support.

Two classes of WMC Mortgage Loan pass-through certificates, series 1997-1, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.Class M-2 was downgraded from A-plus to A-minus, and class B was downgraded from BB to CCC. The rating agency also affirmed the ratings on 15 classes in five WMC residential mortgage-backed securitizations. The downgrades resulted from the poor performance of the underlying collateral, whose high level of losses has led to the depletion of overcollateralization, Fitch said. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., San Diego, has announced the closing of a public offering of 3.4 million shares of 9.75% series A perpetual cumulative preferred shares by an indirect subsidiary, Accredited Mortgage Loan REIT Trust.The gross proceeds of the offering totaled $85 million, and the capital raised will be used "to allow Accredited, on a consolidated basis, to accelerate the growth of its portfolio and support the associated borrowings," Accredited Home Lenders said. (Accredited Mortgage, a real estate investment trust, had originally proposed to offer two million shares of the series A preferred shares, with a liquidation preference of $25 per share.) The lead managers of the offering were Bear, Stearns & Co., Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. The underwriters have been granted an option to buy an up to 510,000 additional shares to cover any overallotments. Accredited can be found online at http://www.accredhome.com.

Cohen & Steers Inc., a New York-based equity portfolio manager that specializes in the stocks of real estate investment trusts and utilities, has priced an initial public offering of 7.5 million shares of common stock at $13 per share.The company said it would use the net proceeds of the offering to expand its investment capabilities, launch new products, and expand distribution, as well as for general corporate purposes. Merrill Lynch & Co. is the book-running manager of the offering. The underwriters have been granted an option to buy up to 1.125 million additional shares to cover any overallotments. Cohen & Steers can be found on the Web at http://www.cohenandsteers.com.