Investments

Oaktown Re II is National Mortgage Insurance's first rated transaction, according to Morningstar; it reinsures $5.47 billion of policies on mortgages with a total balance of $30.12 billion.

Continued favorable loss development trends allowed MGIC Investment Corp. to beat analyst estimates for the second-quarter earnings report.

A new round of expense reductions is getting underway at Nationstar Mortgage as the company moves toward its acquisition by WMIH Corp., a shell company holding Washington Mutual legacy businesses.

Unusually for a debut transaction, the $329.7 million M360 2018-CRE1 will be actively managed: For the first 12 months after the closing date, funds from repaid principal can be used to purchase new loans, subject to eligibility criteria.

This year's sluggish spring home buying season led to generally softer mortgage-related second quarter results at Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and PNC Financial Services Group, but First Republic Bank bucked the trend.

Public builder Beazer Homes USA plans to buy privately held Venture Homes for $65 million in a move that could make mortgage lending in Atlanta more competitive.

A Fannie Mae test to handle the private mortgage insurance process for lenders may raise concerns that it's going outside the scope of its secondary market mission. But the effort reflects its mandate to explore new credit-risk transfer alternatives, a company executive said.

Banks could shed as much as 20 million square feet of office space over the next five years as they shift many functions to high-tech operations centers in markets with cheaper rents.

With better-than-expected performance of the underlying mortgages, Fitch Ratings cut its loss projections for seasoned government-sponsored enterprise credit risk transfer deals.

The shareholders of Nationstar Mortgage Holdings and WMIH Corp. each voted to approve a $1.9 billion acquisition plan that will see the parent company of nonbank lender and servicer Mr. Cooper combine with the successor to S&L and subprime mortgage lender Washington Mutual.