Originations

The median price of an existing home in California was 16.2% higher in November than the level recorded a year earlier, and resales were up 7.5%, according to the California Association of Realtors.The median price of an existing single-family detached home in California totaled $548,400 in November, compared with $471,980 a year earlier, CAR reported. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of closed escrow sales of existing single-family detached homes totaled 579,560, up from the 652,340-unit rate recorded in November 2004, CAR said. "The California housing market continues to experience year-over-year double-digit price appreciation, which is consistent with our expectation that the statewide median for 2005 will increase by 18% over last year," said CAR president Vince Malta. CAR can be found online at http://www.car.org.

Lenders and title companies operating in Chicago will be able to continue to conduct "business as usual" thanks to a delay in the implementation of a predatory-lending database pilot program that was due to go into effect Jan. 1.The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has delayed the implementation of the Cook County pilot program indefinitely, according to Chicago Title regional counsel Jim Weston. The program requires lenders to send applicant information to a state database to determine whether the borrower needs counseling. And title companies have to submit a certificate under the program to the recorder's office. However, the computer database is not in place, and there was some question as to whether the pilot program could be delayed and whether title companies could provide clean title. But the state agency has acted to prevent the disruption of lending activities in Cook County. "It is business as usual," Mr. Weston said.

New-home sales plummeted 11% in November, confirming many economists' suspicions that an October spike in sales was a fluke.The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new single-family home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.25 million in November, down from 1.4 million in October -- the fastest monthly pace in 12 years. Economists have been expecting a slowdown in the housing market, and November's sales were the slowest since January. The Census Bureau also reported that the inventory of newly constructed homes rose to a 4.9-month supply, up from 4.2 months. Several weeks ago, Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft predicted a 200,000 drop in new-home sales in November. The Census Bureau, an agency of the Commerce Department, reported a 159,000 decline from October to November. The department can be found online at http://www.doc.gov.

Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust based in Covington, Ky., has completed a $110 million senior unsecured credit facility.The three-year facility, which can be increased to $200 million and extended for a year, is led by U.S. Bank as administrative agent, with Key Bank as syndication agent and LaSalle Bank as documentation agent. Eagle Hospitality can be found on the Web at http://www.eaglehospitality.com.

MuniMae has admitted the final investors into two tax credit funds, raising nearly $420 million from 16 corporate investors, according to the Baltimore-based investor in multifamily mortgage debt and equity.MuniMae said $352 million was raised through a nonguaranteed multi-investor fund (ITC 30) and $67 million was raised through a guaranteed fund structure (MMA Financial Guaranteed Affordable Housing Fund 2005-3). The proceeds will be used to help finance 57 multifamily properties in 24 states, the company said. MuniMae can be found online at http://www.munimae.com.

Single-family home price appreciation will moderate in 2006 while apartment appreciation accelerates, according to Chadwick, Saylor & Co., a Los Angeles-based real estate investment banking firm.The company said predictions that a purported real estate "bubble" will burst next year are unfounded, declaring that the market "will continue to grow, albeit at more modest rates." Chadwick Saylor's forecast of institutional investment trends also identified Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, the New York City metropolitan area, southeast Florida, and Chicagoland as the best real estate investment markets. "Characteristics of these markets include scarcity of undeveloped land, economic strength from domestic and international sources, and priority on institutional investors' 'shopping lists'," Chadwick Saylor said. The firm can be found online at http://www.chadwicksaylor.com.

Standard & Poor's Rating Services has clarified its criteria for high-cost home loans in Massachusetts in view of recent amendments to the state's anti-predatory-lending regulations.S&P said it will continue to exclude Massachusetts "high cost home mortgage loans" (under the Massachusetts Predatory Home Loan Practices Act) from its rated structured finance deals. The rating agency said last year that such loans might be subject to indeterminate liability, preventing it from estimating their potential liability. S&P also noted that the definition of such loans was different from that of "high cost home loans" in the state's anti-predatory-lending regulations, which were not subject to indeterminate liability. Such "regulation loans" were permitted into S&P rated structured finance deals if its credit enhancement criteria were satisfied, as long as they were not also high cost home mortgage loans under the act. However, the Massachusetts Division of Banks recently amended the regulations to conform them to the act, and thus all regulation loans are now also high cost home mortgage loans under the act, the rating agency reported. S&P can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 6.30% to 6.26% over the seven-day period ended Dec. 22, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 5.85% to 5.79%, the average rate for five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages increased from 5.78% to 5.82%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs climbed from 5.15% to 5.22%. Fees and points averaged 0.6 of a point for fixed-rate mortgages, and 0.7 of a point for ARMs. "Long-term mortgage rates dipped this week because of recently released inflation indicators for November, while short-term rates rose, responding to the Fed's recent -- and expected future -- actions," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "Although mortgage rates by and large are higher than they were at the start of this year, they've only risen about one percentage point since hitting a four-decade record low in June of 2003." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 5.75% and 5.18%, respectively, and the average one-year ARM rate was 4.17%, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Washington Mutual Inc., Seattle, has announced plans to realign its single-family residential mortgage lending operations under one management team.Under the new structure, management responsibility for Long Beach Mortgage Co., WaMu's subprime lending business, and Mortgage Banker Finance, its warehouse lending operation, will move from the commercial group to David Schneider, president of WaMu's home loans group. The rest of the commercial group, including the multifamily lending business, will report to industry veteran Al Brooks, WaMu said. "Bringing our leading prime and subprime lending businesses under common leadership provides us the opportunity to fully leverage our resources to better serve our customers and shareholders," said Steve Rotella, WaMu's president and chief operating officer. "At the same time, we have a strong and experienced leadership team that recognizes the unique characteristics of the subprime business." In a related development, WaMu commercial group president Craig Chapman will leave the company as of Jan. 31.

The senior unsecured debt and preferred stock ratings of Equity Office Properties Trust, a Chicago-based real estate investment trust, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The debt rating was downgraded from BBB-plus to BBB for EOP and its principal subsidiary, EOP Operating LP, and the stock rating of the parent company was downgraded from BBB to BBB-minus. In explaining the downgrades, the rating agency cited problems related to the portfolio performance and cash flow coverage of EOP, which is the largest office REIT in the United States. "Despite its balance sheet strength, EOP faces challenges in portfolio performance," Fitch said. "Unfortunately, exposure to a sizable pool of underperforming assets continues to pressure portfolio productivity and to jeopardize debt service coverage levels." Fitch can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Arbor Realty Trust Inc., New York, has priced a collateralized debt obligation to be issued by two newly formed subsidiaries of the company.Arbor Realty, a real estate investment trust that invests in bridge and mezzanine loans tied to multifamily and commercial real estate, said the facility is expected to issue approximately $356 million of investment-grade debt. The company said it expects to retain an equity interest of approximately $119 million in the portfolio. The debt will be issued on a floating-rate basis at an initial weighted average spread of about 73 basis points over the three-month London interbank offered rate, the REIT said. The face value of the collateral in the initial portfolio, consisting primarily of bridge and mezzanine loans, is expected to be about $475 million. The company can be found online at http://www.arborrealtytrust.com.

ABN Amro Mortgage ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction among 13 mortgage lenders in the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 Primary Mortgage Origination Study, according to the marketing information firm.The company said the study measures customer satisfaction with the mortgage borrowing process among 4,498 consumers who obtained a mortgage in the past nine months. ABN Amro scored 756 on a 1,000-point scale, performing especially well in the closing process, J.D. Power reported. SunTrust Mortgage ranked second, with a score of 726, and Wachovia finished third, at 723. "While ABN Amro has only recently started to invest in its brand in the consumer space, it has long been known for its efficient, speedy processing of loan applications among brokers," said Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the firm's finance and insurance practice. J.D. Power, headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., can be found online at http://www.jdpower.com,

Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., San Diego, has adopted the "next-generation" risk management framework from Zementis to beef up the service and quality of its nonprime automated underwriting system.According to Accredited, the system will reduce manual intervention in the underwriting process and improve feedback to brokers by assessing the risk of a loan application in real-time. Zementis Inc., also based in San Diego, offers its Adaptive Decision Engine as a statistical and analytical system that uses predictive modeling powered by advanced neural network technology. Founded in 1990, Accredited is a nationwide lender that originates, finances, securitizes, services, and sells nonprime mortgage loans. The companies can be found online at http://www.accredhome.com and http://www.zementis.com.

The Market Composite Index, an overall measure of mortgage applications, fell from 619.3 to 594.6 on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended Dec. 16, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications decreased 5.2% on the week and were down 15.2% from the level recorded a year earlier. The Purchase Index fell from 477.9 to 453.1 on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the Refinance Index declined from 1441.8 to 1418.1. The four-week moving average for the Purchase Index fell from 480.4 to 475.6, and the comparable average for the Refinance Index fell from 1526.7 to 1485.2. Refinancings represented 41.7% of total applications, up from 40.2% the previous week, while adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 32.6%, the MBA said. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased from 6.28% to 6.22%, and points (including the origination fee) decreased from 1.24 to 1.19 for loans with 80% loan-to-value ratios, the MBA reported. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.

Winthrop Realty Trust, Boston, has announced that its wholly owned operating partnership, WRT Realty LP, has obtained a $50 million secured revolving credit line from KeyBank NA.The three-year credit line may be increased to $100 million under certain conditions and contains an option to extend for an additional year, the real estate investment trust reported. The credit line bears an interest rate of 1.50%-2.25% above the London interbank offered rate, depending on the REIT's leverage ratio.

Cedar Shopping Centers Inc., Port Washington, N.Y., has increased its $140 million secured revolving credit facility to $200 million and extended its maturity to 2008.The real estate investment trust said the facility includes an accordion feature that has been increased from $200 million to $300 million. The interest rate has been reduced from a range of 150-205 basis points over the London interbank offered rate to 120-165 bps over LIBOR, the REIT reported. Banc of America was the lead arranger of an eight-member syndicate that provided the facility. Cedar Shopping Centers is focused on shopping centers anchored by supermarkets and convenience centers anchored by drug stores. The REIT can be found on the Web at http://www.cedarshoppingcenters.com.

The U.S. commercial real estate market faces the prospect of "another blockbuster year" in 2006, according to Colliers International, a Boston-based global real estate services firm.Colliers predicted that the office and industrial sectors will both experience "substantial expansion" next year. "The U.S. commercial real estate sector will be remarkably strong as we move into the New Year," said Ross Moore, the organization's vice president and director of research. "Even if the economy grinds to a standstill tomorrow, we have enough momentum and inertia to carry us through until at least midyear." Mr. Moore acknowledged that the economy will have to weather high energy costs, rising interest rates, and an uncertain housing market in 2006, but he said many businesses are "well-capitalized and financially secure" and are therefore "primed for expansion." Colliers can be found online at http://www.colliers.com.

The Town and Country Trust, a Baltimore-based real estate investment trust, has announced an agreement to be acquired for approximately $1.3 billion by a joint venture investment vehicle formed by affiliates of Morgan Stanley Real Estate and Onex Real Estate.Under the agreement, holders of TCT's common shares of beneficial interest will receive $33.90 per share, and holders of limited partnership units in the multifamily REIT's operating partnership will be entitled to receive $33.90 per unit. The $1.3 billion total for the all-cash transaction includes the assumption of debt. TCT said the per-share purchase price represents a 13.8% premium over its closing price on Dec. 19. Onex Real Estate was formed in January by Onex Corp., a diversified Canadian company. TCT can be found online at http://www.tctrust.com, and Onex can be found at http://www.onex.com.

Single-family housing starts jumped 4.8% in November as the pace of construction once again hit a record level set earlier this year.The U.S. Census Bureau reported that single-family starts rebounded to a record seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.81 million in November from a 1.73 million rate in October. Single-family starts hit 1.81 million in March for the first time ever. The November report shows that the housing market has a lot of momentum, according to a National Association of Home Builders economist, and 2005 will easily beat last year's record for single-family starts by about 7%. While single-family starts and new-home sales are expected to decline by 6%-7% next year, NAHB economist Michael Carliner said purchase mortgage originations on new homes in 2006 should exceed 2005 originations. Looking at all the houses under construction and in the pipeline, mortgage originations "will almost certainly be higher next year," Mr. Carliner said.

Fueled by record home sales and a red-hot home equity market, residential debt in the United States grew at a blistering pace in the third quarter, according to new figures released by Fannie Mae.According to Fannie Mae chief economist David Berson, residential debt grew at a 15.9% annualized rate in the third quarter, compared with 15% in the second quarter. "This was the fastest two-quarter increase since 1979," Mr. Berson said. According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News, there is now $8.1 trillion in outstanding home mortgages in the United States. (By comparison, at the end of 2002 consumers owed $6.3 trillion on their homes.) Meanwhile, Fannie is forecasting $2.1 trillion in production next year. NMN is forecasting $3 trillion in production for 2005, which means -- according to Fannie's numbers -- fundings could decline by 30% next year. Fannie Mae can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.