Secondary

Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, has purchased the remaining equity in Merscorp Holdings it did not already own.

Lenders offered fewer government-guaranteed mortgage programs in September, leading to an overall decline in mortgage credit availability, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Builder Lennar Corp.'s purchase of CalAtlantic's financial services operations boosted its mortgage segment's earnings in the third quarter as the acquisition offset declines in per-loan profits and refinancing.

First Foundation sold loans to Freddie Mac to free up space for higher-yielding credits. It then bought the securities that were formed to replace other, lower-yielding assets through an often overlooked program.

Similar to estimates published by Moody's and Morningstar, the data provider reckons that more than half of the loans are securitized by Fannie, Freddie or Ginnie.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding grew by 1.6% during the second quarter, benefiting from improved property values and low interest rates, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Ocwen Financial Corp. has gotten the go-ahead to acquire PHH Mortgage Corp., subject to revised New York restrictions on acquisitions of mortgage servicing rights, and other conditions imposed by the state.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued new capital requirements for private mortgage insurers that will create big swings in carriers' asset reserves.

After a run-up in the latter half of last year, delinquencies on mortgages sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac look fairly stable for the time being.

Finance of America Reverse is offering a new second-lien alternative to the Federal Housing Administration's Home Equity Conversion Mortgage that can be placed on a property with a pre-existing first-lien loan.