Originations

Three classes of Diversified Asset Securitization Holdings I LP have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: classes A-1 and A-2, from AAA to AA-plus; and class B, from B to C. Fitch said DASH I is a collateralized debt obligation that was originated and managed by Asset Allocation & Management LLC. The portfolio backing the CDO consists of residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities and commercial and consumer asset-backed securities. Fitch said its review of the credit quality of the collateral and a cash-flow analysis indicated that the original ratings on the downgraded classes no longer reflect the current risk to noteholders. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

New York-based iStar Financial is selling five million shares of common stock in a public offering that is expected to raise net proceeds of approximately $191.1 million.The commercial mortgage real estate investment trust said it expects to use the proceeds to repay secured debt. Lehman Brothers is the sole underwriter of the offering. The REIT can be found online at http://www.istarfinancial.com.

Fieldstone Investment Corp., a Maryland-based mortgage banker, has priced a $703 million public offering of 47.1 million shares of common stock at $15 per share.Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., the Arlington, Va.-based exclusive placement agent for the offering, said the net proceeds to Fieldstone will be approximately $657.4 million. Fieldstone will use the proceeds to redeem the nonmanagement shares of common stock outstanding before the offering, build its portfolio of nonconforming residential mortgages, repay borrowings under its warehouse lines of credit and repurchase facilities, fund working capital, and for other corporate purposes, FBR said. FBR can be found on the Web at http://www.fbr.com.

Anne-Drue M. Anderson and Eliot R. Cutler have been elected to the board of directors of Thornburg Mortgage Inc., Santa Fe, N.M.Ms. Anderson was most recently president of Neighborhood Housing Services of America, a nonprofit firm based in Oakland, Calif. She was previously executive vice president and director of residential lending for H.F. Ahmanson & Co. and Home Savings of America, Thornburg said. Mr. Cutler is an environmental lawyer and project development expert in the Washington office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Early in his career, he was associate director of the Office of Management and Budget under former President Jimmy Carter and the principal White House official in the areas of environment, energy, and natural resources, Thornburg said. Thornburg can be found online at http://www.thornburgmortgage.com.

Rod Alba has been promoted to senior director of government affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association, and Daniel Szparaga has been promoted to senior director of the Commercial/Multifamily Real Estate Finance Division.Mr. Alba is the MBA's lead regulatory specialist, advising on such issues as the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Truth in Lending Act, and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, among others. Mr. Szparaga is responsible for technology and electronic commerce in the commercial and multifamily mortgage industries.

Alan P. Hirmes has been elected chief financial officer of CharterMac and of American Mortgage Acceptance Co. as of March 31, 2004, when the current CFO of the two companies, Stuart A. Rothstein, plans to leave.Mr. Rothstein is leaving to "pursue other opportunities," the New York-based companies said. Mr. Hirmes is the chief operating officer of both companies and a member of their boards of trustees. He has spent 20 years of his 24 years in real estate finance with Related Capital Co., a CharterMac subsidiary that acts as adviser to AMAC, the companies said. Stuart J. Boesky is chief executive officer of CharterMac, a multifamily finance company, and AMAC, a multifamily real estate investment trust. They can be found online at http://www.chartermac.com and http://www.americanmortgageco.com.

Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., Newark, N.J., and the Union Labor Life Insurance Co., Washington, have announced an alliance under which they will co-invest in loans on commercial real estate projects that are built or substantially rehabilitated using union labor.Under the alliance, which will be carried out by ULLICO's J for Jobs fund and Prudential's Union Mortgage Account, each fund has agreed to offer the other a chance to co-invest in mortgage loans it does not plan to hold entirely on its own, the companies said. "This program gives us an opportunity to increase the investment opportunities for both funds while allowing the funds to work toward their goals of stimulating job creation for union labor," said Ronald Skinner, portfolio manager for the Union Mortgage Account at Prudential Real Estate Fixed Income Investors, Pru Mortgage's debt funds management business. The alliance partners can be found online at http://www.prudential.com/mortgagecapital and http://www.ullico.com.

The Market Composite Index, an overall measure of mortgage applications, rose from 601.6 to 677.2 on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended Dec. 12, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications rose 11.3% on the week, but were down 35.2% from the level of a year earlier. The Purchase Index rose from 399.8 to 437.2 on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the Refinance Index climbed from 1775.5 to 2072.9. Refinancings represented 51.8% of total applications, up from 49.4% the previous week, while adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 28.0%. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell from 5.76% to 5.71%, and points (including the origination fee) increased from 1.38 to 1.46 for loans with 80% loan-to-value ratios, the MBA reported. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.

Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, Southfield, Mich., has declared a "deficiency dividend" of $0.131 per common share following the resolution of a long-standing tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service.The real estate investment trust said the dividend of approximately $2.2 million is part of a closing agreement with the IRS that includes a payment of approximately $5.18 million in taxes and interest to the agency. Meanwhile, a tax agreement with Atlantic Realty Trust requires Atlantic to reimburse Ramco for the deficiency dividend and all costs associated with the settlement, the REIT said. Ramco said the tax dispute pertained to its taxable years 1991-1995. The shopping center REIT can be found on the Web at http://www.ramcogershenson.com.

Freddie Mac has joined a statewide coalition of lenders and housing organizations from Albuquerque, N.M., in launching a $100 million Homes for the Holidays campaign designed to help about 600 local residents become homeowners by Christmas 2004.The campaign, consisting of three separate initiatives, is part of the Bush administration's national effort to add 5.5 million minority homeowners by the end of 2010. "The New Mexico Lease Purchase" $27 million initiative will be operated in cooperation with Region III Housing Authority, PMI Insurance Co., and First State Bank to assist minorities and borrowers who are credit-challenged or lack credit history in leasing a property before they become homeowners. Two other products for borrowers who lack financial education, downpayment savings, or do not have good credit will be rolled out in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Huntington National Bank, Columbus, Ohio, has announced a renewed alliance with Fannie Mae under which the bank has committed to originate $1.5 billion in mortgage loans for underserved markets over three years and Fannie Mae has pledged to buy the loans.Under the Housing and Community Development Alliance, the bank said it will also develop multicultural marketing strategies to reach underserved markets such as low- and moderate-income families, minority families, new immigrants, woman-headed households, and people with disabilities. The new alliance builds on a previous three-year commitment of $1 billion signed by the bank and Fannie Mae in July 2001. The bank can be found online at http://www.huntington.com.

Highland Hospitality Corp., McLean, Va., has priced an initial public offering of 30 million shares of its common stock at $10 per share.Highland, a real estate investment trust, said it is also selling another 4.55 million shares of common stock through private issuances. The shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HIH." The hospitality REIT has granted the underwriters an option to buy up to 4.5 million additional common shares to cover any overallotments. Friedman, Billings, Ramsey was the manager of the issue, and Deutsche Bank Securities was the co-lead manager. The gross proceeds of approximately $342.2 million from the public offering and private issuances will be used to fund the acquisition of seven hotel properties and future lodging investments, among other uses.

The California Supreme Court has extended to Jan. 16 its time frame for reviewing the American Financial Services Association's lawsuit challenging the Oakland predatory lending law, according to a Kirkpatrick & Lockhart e-mail Mortgage Banking Client Alert.It had been expected that the court would decide whether to accept or deny the motion to review the lower courts' rulings in this case sometime this month. AFSA had lost at both the trial court and the appellate court levels. It has argued that California state law pre-empts municipalities such as Oakland and Los Angeles from passing their own predatory lending laws.

The NAHB Housing Market Index held steady in December at the upwardly revised November level of 70, according to the National Association of Home Builders.In addition, the index gauging builder sentiment about the current single-family sales market fell one point, to 77, and the measure of expected sales over the next six months dropped five points, to 76. The reading for prospective homebuyer traffic rose four points, to 51, the NAHB said. "Buyer demand is holding up well this holiday season, and single-family builders are pleased to be ending the year on such a high note," said NAHB president Kent Conine, a home and apartment builder from Dallas. Anything above 50 in the index and its components, which are based on surveys of hundreds of builders, means homebuilders believe that the single-family housing market is doing well. The NAHB can be found online at http://www.nahb.com.

Single-family housing starts jumped 3.3% in November to a new monthly record, making it almost a sure bet that builders will top an annual construction record that dates back to 1977.The Census Bureau reported that single-family starts increased from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.64 million in October to 1.67 million in November. The annual record for single-family starts -- 1.45 million units -- was set in 1977. "We are pretty sure we will beat it," said Michael Carliner, an economist with the National Association of Home Builders. Normally, builders slow down in November and December and take some time off. "But this year they have been running flat out," the NAHB economist said. "They are using it to catch up." He said he expects the next housing start report to show a decline for December. Next year, the NAHB is forecasting another good year, but not a record year. "We think it is unlikely to exceed this year," Mr. Carliner said.

A new resource guide for Native American tribal leaders, "Designing and Operating Homeownership Programs on Tribal Land," has been released by The Enterprise Foundation.The foundation said the guide was prepared by The New Mexico Tribal Homeownership Coalition with support from the foundation, the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Teresa Leger de Fernandez of the Nordhaus law firm. "Fewer than 2,000 mortgages have been closed on tribal lands nationwide because less than one-fourth of all tribes have legal systems that permit government or conventional mortgages," the foundation said. "Meanwhile, there is an immediate need for at least 200,000 decent affordable homes on tribal lands." The foundation can be found online at http://www.enterprisefoundation.org.

Wachovia Corp., Charlotte, N.C., is touting recently released federal statistics on community development lending, saying the data show that it was the top U.S. community development lender last year.The data released by the Federal Financial Institutions Examining Council indicate that Wachovia's $1.2 billion in loans for affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization, economic development, and community services in 2002 ranked it No. 1 in the nation, the company said. "Our success stems from the fact that we approach community development as a market segment," said Jane Henderson, Wachovia's director of community development. "Instead of viewing this work as a regulatory requirement, we manage it as a sustainable business -- business that is good for the company, our shareholders, and out communities." The company can be found online at http://www.wachovia.com.

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, Philadelphia, has completed a new $500 million unsecured revolving line of credit and has received notification from the Securities and Exchange Commission that its $500 million shelf registration has become effective.The retail real estate investment trust said the shelf registration covers both equity and debt offerings. PREIT's new line of credit, which can be increased to $650 million under some conditions, bears interest between 1.5% and 2.5% over the London interbank offered rate, based on the REIT's leverage position. The facility, the availability of which is subject to PREIT's compliance with some covenants, has a term of three years with a possible one-year extension. The lenders on the LOC include lead arranger Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Fleet National Bank, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Firstrust Bank.

Developers Diversified Realty, Cleveland, has amended the terms of its $650 million unsecured credit facility, extending it from May 30, 2005, to May 30, 2006.The facility now bears an interest rate of 80 basis points above the London interbank offered rate, compared with the previous rate of LIBOR plus 100 bps, as well as continuing to offer "a competitive bid option for up to 50% of the facility amount," the real estate investment trust said. The line of credit could be increased from $650 million to $1 billion at DDR's option, the retail REIT said. Banc One Capital Markets is the lead arranger on the facility.

John Hoie has been named chief operating officer of American Mortgage Express Financial, San Diego.Mr. Hoie, a 23-year veteran of the mortgage banking industry, was most recently AME's senior vice president of production, the company said. He was formerly senior vice president of secondary marketing with Phoenix-based Matrix Financial and president of the mortgage banking division of Valley National Bank of Arizona.