Secondary

The CEO of Freedom Mortgage, Stanley Middleman, provides his take on trends affecting independent mortgage bankers as well as the residential real estate finance industry at large.

Over 67% of the loan balances in Sabal Capital Partners' commercial mortgage MBS deal were for apartment buildings financed through the Irvine, Calif.-based firm.

The notes in Citigroup Commercial Mortgage Trust 2020-555 are backed by a beneficial interest in the trust’s $350 million portion of the 119-month fixed-rate commercial loan. The loan is secured by a 52-story New York luxury apartment building in Manhattan’s Midtown West submarket.

Fidelity and Essent reported higher year-over-year profits in the last three months of 2019 as refinancing increased business volume, but Black Knight took a hit on its Dun & Bradstreet investment.

As the hunt for yield intensifies, investors including Pacific Investment Management Co. see an attractive opportunity in mortgage bonds.

Freddie Mac saw a decline in net profit in 2019 due to decreased interest rate income, lower amortization revenue and risk-reducing investment costs, but its consecutive-quarter results improved.

Fannie Mae identified the adoption of hedge accounting and regular issuance of multifamily Connecticut Avenue Securities deals as among strategies it could continue to pursue while navigating regulatory uncertainties and change.

Five MBS pools of predominantly non-QM mortgages have been launched into the market by originators and loan aggregators, according to ratings agency presale reports published since Monday.

First American Financial, a title insurance underwriter and settlement services provider, is acquiring mortgage document firm Docutech for $350 million in cash.

NMI Holdings saw its insurance-in-force grow 38% over the past year as 90% of its clients used its black box pricing module during the fourth quarter.