CRE

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Wednesday it had raised a cap on the amount of multifamily loans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy from lenders, boosting it to $35 billion effective immediately.

At least one banker has gone public with expectations that the OCC will force his institution to hold more capital. More could soon follow.

Blackstone Group, with real estate assets that have surpassed $100 billion, is considering tapping individual investors as it expands its push into owning high-quality buildings with steady income streams.

People's United Financial in Bridgeport, Conn., reported higher first-quarter profits as it increased lending for both commercial and residential real estate.

Competitive pricing and softening demand at the high end of the apartment- and condo-building market had executives at BankUnited, Signature and New York Community answering tough questions about their growth projections and diversification strategies.

Two St. Louis-area investors have been indicted on charges they defrauded the failed Excel Bank on real estate loans.

Wells Fargo & Co. said first-quarter profit fell 5.9% as the firm set aside more money for soured energy loans and expenses increased.

The world knows JPMorgan's quarterly profits fell and that it flunked the living wills test. But underneath all that were solid first-quarter results in its core lending businesses that bode well for other banks at the start of earnings season.

Commercial and multifamily originators closed $504 billion in loans last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Credit market turmoil continued to take a toll on commercial property prices in February, when Moody's/RCA Commercial Property Price Indices national all-property composite index declined for a second consecutive month.