Origination

Starwood Property Trust, Greenwich, Conn., so far in the second quarter has completed 21 mortgage purchase or lending transactions for a total of $769 million. This brings the real estate investment trust's portfolio to over $2.4 billion.

A court-appointed judicial hearing officer who previously had said e-mails sent between New York Insurance Department officials showed bias regarding the restructuring of bond insurer MBIA Insurance Corp. last week reversed his decision.

Bloodcurdling numbers of distressed residential mortgage assets are bad enough. But nonperforming commercial mortgages have also ballooned out, to more than $200 billion of a niche that is only one-third the size of residential.

Shortly after Cornerstone Residential Management company settled a class-action lawsuit claiming discrimination against families with minor children, the housing developer was hit by another lawsuit alleging it has violated Fair Housing Act protections for people with disabilities for decades.

The No. 4 producer on our list, Bradley Cohen of EagleBank, Potomac, Md., had a very simple reason for what drove his business success in 2010—the need to make his own mortgage payment.

Fannie Mae chief economist Doug Duncan believes cash purchases of homes will continue at "quite high levels" for the rest of this year as investors and even some homebuyers bypass the traditional mortgage process.

Radian Guaranty Inc., Philadelphia, will accept Fannie Mae Desktop Underwriter Approve/Eligible and Freddie Mac Loan Prospector Accept/Eligible loans for mortgage insurance without the need for a separate underwriting decision by the company starting on July 11. This is just one of a series of guideline changes the company is making.

A new Office of Comptroller of the Currency survey will give home builders and Realtors more reason to complain that banks are continuing to tightened their underwriting standards and choke off credit to homebuyers.

A report from the National Association of Home Builders found that a decrease in loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration set to take effect on Oct. 1 would have a negative impact for the housing market.

Amid a lackluster housing market, additional downgrades of military base projects and budgetary uncertainty, adjustment was the theme Thursday at The Bond Buyer's sixth annual military housing privatization conference.