Originations

First Guardian Financial Corp., New York, has announced the approval of a $50 million revolving warehouse credit facility that it says will enable it to "aggressively pursue" its commercial real estate finance and business lending activities.The facility matures on Aug. 1, 2007. The company said it soon expects to close a second $50 million revolving warehouse facility for its Trafalgar Leasing & Financing subsidiary. First Guardian can be found on the Web at http://www.guardianfinancialcorp.com.

Five classes from two issues of CDC Mortgage Capital Trust mortgage pass-through certificates have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 2003-HE1, class B-1, from BBB to BB-plus, and class B-2, from BBB-minus to BB-minus; and series 2003-HE2, class B-1, from BBB-plus to BBB, class B-2, from BBB to BB-plus, and class B-3, from BBB-minus to BB-minus. The last two classes were also removed from Rating Watch Negative. In addition, Fitch affirmed the ratings on six classes from the two transactions. The rating agency attributed the downgrades to a deterioration in the relationship between credit enhancement and expected losses. The pools consist of fixed- and adjustable-rate subprime mortgages.

The First American Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers have announced the formation of a partnership aimed at boosting the rate of African-American homeownership.Under the five-point plan, First American will provide lead generation data resources; offer its proprietary credit scoring products to assist NAREB's Rebuild America Homeownership Counseling Division; and make available a Web-based, point-of-sale technology platform to streamline loan origination by NAREB members, known as Realtists. In addition, NAREB -- which calls itself the oldest and largest minority real estate trade association in the nation -- and First American will join with municipal housing agencies in 10 urban areas to offer downpayment assistance to first-time homebuyers. The fifth point involves selecting and funding the top 10 NAREB local boards to assist in rolling out a co-branded real estate financial literacy program next year. First American can be found online at http://www.firstam.com, and NAREB can be found at http://www.nareb.com.

Fannie Mae has appointed Phillip Weber to head up its multifamily lending area, taking over from Richard Lawch, MortgageWire has learned.Mr. Lawch has taken on a new role related to the government-sponsored enterprise's community investment activities, according to a source at Fannie Mae. Another source reported that Mr. Weber told a recent Fannie Mae DUS conference that he will focus on "process improvements and new products," with the aim of having more of a customer focus. Mr. Weber, who is now senior vice president for multifamily lending, was most recently chief of staff for Dan Mudd, Fannie Mae's president and chief executive officer.

Classes K through O of GMAC Commercial Mortgage Securities Inc. commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2004-C3, have been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings.The rating actions were attributed to a potential for significant losses to four loans in special servicing. The loans are cross-defaulted and cross-collateralized and secured by multifamily properties in Nashville, Tenn. "Recent valuations of the properties indicate significant losses would be incurred if the loans were liquidated today," Fitch reported.

Health Care REIT, Toledo, Ohio, has closed a $700 million unsecured revolving credit facility, replacing a $500 million facility that was scheduled to mature in June 2008.The real estate investment trust said the new facility is available until July 2009, with the option to extend for an additional year. In addition to the increased borrowing capacity, the new facility provides greater financial flexibility than the old one, the REIT said. KeyBank NA was a joint lead arranger and the administrative agent of the facility, and Deutsche Bank was the other joint lead arranger and the syndication agent. The REIT can be found on the Web at http://www.hcreit.com.

Residential Capital Corp., the parent of the GMAC Residential family of companies, earned $548 million in the second quarter, an 82% improvement over the same period last year.However, the company attributed the strong showing to a $259 million one-time gain when it sold its stake in a regional homebuilding company. Without the sale, its earnings fell 4%. ResCap's mortgage affiliates funded $47 billion in the second quarter, a 10% increase from the level recorded in the second quarter of last year. Earlier this year, Cerberus Capital Management and two partners bought 51% of GMAC. General Motors owns the balance.

IndyMac Bancorp Inc., Pasadena, Calif., has reported record mortgage loan volume and record net earnings of $105 million ($1.49 per share) for the second quarter, compared with $82 million ($1.24 per share) a year earlier.IndyMac's mortgage loan production totaled a record $20.1 billion in the second quarter, up 41% from that of a year earlier, the company said. "While our mortgage volumes were at a record level for the ninth consecutive quarter, they were essentially flat compared with the first quarter, and we are redoubling our efforts to profitably gain market share," said Richard H. Wohl, IndyMac Bank's president. "In keeping with this goal, our mortgage pipeline was at an all-time record level of $12.5 billion as of June 30, up 7% from the first quarter of 2006 and up 29% year over year, boding well for our mortgage production volumes and profits for the third quarter." IndyMac can be found online at http://www.indymacbank.com.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 6.80% to 6.72% over the seven-day period ended July 27, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 6.40% to 6.34%, the average rate for five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages declined from 6.36% to 6.35%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs decreased from 5.80% to 5.78%, Freddie Mac reported. Fees and points averaged 0.3 of a point for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, 0.4 of a point for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages and hybrid ARMs, and 0.7 of a point for one-year ARMs. "Mortgage rates drifted lower this week on indications that economic growth is moderating, inflation remains under control, and the Fed just may [stop] raising rates for awhile," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "Meanwhile, recently released new-home sales for June fell to a lower-than-expected rate. That drop can be traced directly to higher mortgage rates, which are also helping to slow the growth of house prices in 2006." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 5.77% and 5.34%, respectively, and the average five-year and one-year ARM rates were 5.27% and 4.46%, respectively, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Housing markets have "cooled" and residential mortgage lending has declined in most parts of the country, according to the Beige Book, the Federal Reserve Board's periodic report of economic activity.Except in the St. Louis and Dallas districts, the Federal Reserve Banks reported that new- and existing-home sales declined and inventories of unsold homes rose in June and the first two weeks of July. The Dallas Federal Reserve Bank reported some "cooling." But demand for housing "remains strong" and construction activity has been "robust," the district bank said. "As home demand has slipped more generally, scattered reports indicated a strengthening in demand for rental units," the Beige Book says.

In a new report, Merrill Lynch declares that housing is in a bear market and that a "buyer's market" for homes should last for "years."Merrill notes that the unsold inventories of homes continue to pile up, and that resale prices are flattening in the single-family market, while declining for condominiums. Meanwhile, a new report by Friedman Billings Ramsey says home price gains will continue to slow nationwide. FBR is still bullish on the nation's largest market, California. It predicts that house prices in the state "should rise by a median year-over-year rate of 24.1% in 1Q07, whereas they had risen by a median year-over-year rate of 21.7% in 1Q06." FBR cautions that home price gains in California will not be uniform.

New home sales fell 3% in June as a long-expected slowdown finally began taking hold despite the incentives and discounts that builders are offering homebuyers.The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new single-family home sales dropped from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million in May to 1.13 million in June. May sales were revised downward from 1.23 million. "We are seeing incentives becoming much more widespread," National Association of Home Builder economist Michael Carliner said. Most incentives involve upgrades in kitchen cabinets or giving away optional items, he said, rather than financing. Builders are also dealing with high inventories of unsold homes. "I think there will have to be an adjustment in starts to keep inventories in line," the NAHB economist said. "If we don't see a slowdown in starts, then it is a sign of danger."

Class N of Morgan Stanley Capital I Inc.'s commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1999-CAM1, has been downgraded from CCC/DR3 to CC/DR4 by Fitch Ratings.Fitch also affirmed the ratings on 13 other classes in the transaction. The rating agency attributed the downgrade to expected losses on a specially serviced loan on an industrial/warehouse facility in Lewisville, Texas, that is 100% vacant.

Class M of J.P. Morgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Corp.'s commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2001-CIBC1, has been downgraded from B-minus to CCC/DR4 by Fitch Ratings.Fitch also upgraded seven classes in the deal and affirmed the ratings on seven others. The rating agency attributed the downgrade to an increase in expected losses on the specially serviced assets.

Danica Patrick, who serves as a spokeswoman and trade show booth attraction for Argent Mortgage, will be switching from Rahal Letterman Racing to Andretti Green Racing for the 2007 Indy Racing League season, raising questions about her continued association with Argent.Argent had sponsored her car when she raced in the lower levels of open-wheel racing for Rahal Letterman. Besides sponsoring Ms. Patrick's car, Argent sponsors the car of her teammate, Buddy Rice, a former winner of the Indianapolis 500. A news release from Andretti Green did not mention the sponsorship situation. Published reports had Bobby Rahal, one of the owners of Rahal Letterman (the other being television personality David Letterman), saying the Argent sponsorship was the team's and not Ms. Patrick's. Argent had not replied to a request for comment by MortgageWire's deadline. At the end of June, Argent said it would use Ms. Patrick in the marketing of its new alternative-A product line.

Housing prices generally will rise in each of the next four quarters, but by progressively slower rates on a year-over-year basis, and they will fall in progressively larger numbers of metropolitan statistical areas, according to Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co.FBR said it had re-estimated the econometric model it introduced in April to arrive at the new forecast. "The demand for housing should overcome the pressure from the higher mortgage rate in the majority of the 379 MSAs, allowing house prices to rise in the year ahead, albeit at slower rates than in the year past," said FBR analyst Michael D. Youngblood. The forecast calls for a general year-over-year house price increase of 7.1% in the second quarter, 5.7% in the third quarter, 4.4% in the fourth quarter, and 3.5% in the first quarter of 2007, FBR reported. Among the 100 largest MSAs, FBR is forecasting that house prices will fall year over year in the first quarter of 2007 by 7.1% in Honolulu; 2.5% in Little Rock, Ark.; 2.0% in St. Louis; 1.8% in Columbia, S.C.; 1.6% in Charleston, S.C.; and 0.9% in Pittsburgh. FBR can be found on the Web at http://www.fbr.com.

First Industrial Realty Trust, a Chicago-based industrial real estate investment trust, has formed a $950 million joint venture with the California State Teachers' Retirement System.The REIT said the venture will invest in "strategically located land parcels and vertical development" in markets projected to benefit most from supply chain reconfiguration, international trade, demographic trends, and economic expansion. "Sourcing competitive private capital is an important part of our strategy," said Mike Brennan, president and chief executive of First Industrial. "Our new joint venture with CalSTRS will accelerate the long-term growth of our business as we acquire strategic sites and develop new facilities for our expanding customer base." The venture, which has an initial term of 10 years, may be expanded to $1.6 billion once the initial $950 million investment level has been reached. It is expected to be funded with 35% equity and 65% debt, with initial equity contributions of up to $300 million by CalSTRS and up to $33 million by First Industrial, the REIT reported.

The Market Composite Index, an overall measure of mortgage applications, fell from 540.8 to 533.8 on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended July 21, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications decreased 1.2% on the week and were down 28.2% from the level recorded a year earlier. The Purchase Index fell from 398.5 to 389.0 on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the Refinance Index climbed from 1377.6 to 1385.2. Refinancings represented 35.6% of total applications, up from 35.0% the previous week, while adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 28.6%, the MBA said. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased from 6.73% to 6.69%, and points (including the origination fee) decreased from 1.13 to 1.07 for loans with 80% loan-to-value ratios, the association reported.

Washington Mutual Inc., Seattle, has agreed to sell its WM Advisors Inc. subsidiary to the Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa, for $740 million in cash.The sale is expected to generate a pretax gain for WaMu of at least $650 million. WaMu said the gain is expected to more than offset the financial impact of the sale of $140 billion in mortgage servicing rights (its government servicing portfolio and part of its conforming portfolio) to Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Des Moines, as well as offset other strategic initiatives the company is undertaking. "This transaction is in keeping with our strategy to streamline our business model and sharpen the focus of our products and services, which target U.S. middle-market consumers and small businesses," said Kerry Killinger, chairman and chief executive of WaMu.

Citigroup has announced the combining of its first-mortgage businesses, St. Louis-based CitiMortgage and Dallas-based CitiFinancial Mortgage, under the CitiMortgage name.CitiMortgage previously handled prime residential mortgages through retail, wholesale, and correspondent channels, while CitiFinancial Mortgage specialized in nonprime residential mortgages. CitiMortgage will now originate both prime and nonprime mortgages, and its headquarters will remain in St. Louis. "This integration ... allows us to present a consistent face to the market, increase our national presence via greater distribution, and offer more complete solutions to customers," said Bill Beckmann, president of CitiMortgage. Citi said the move will allow it to adopt a "common, customer-focused business model"; migrate to an integrated computer infrastructure that will facilitate improved customer service; capitalize on expanding product lines and pricing; and leverage the distribution channels and strengths of both companies. The parent company can be found online at http://www.citigroup.com.