Questions Remain on Actual NPL Sales

Some recent press reports have suggested that $10 billion in nonperforming residential loans have changed hands the past year, leaving some players in the market scratching their heads. "I don't see it," said one West Coast based buyer of NPLs. "I'm not even sure $3 billion changed hands," he said. Indeed, there have been very few large NPL deals announced publicly. The big banks and Wall Street firms selling NPLs obviously don't want the publicity and the general belief in the market is that not a whole lot of large deals are getting done. The exception is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's sale of $1.2 billion of NPLs which went to two private bidders. National Mortgage News reported on the deal earlier in the week. The loans belonged to the AmTrust receivership. Meanwhile, we hear the FDIC is working on selling a $800 million pool of problem acquisition, development and construction loans...