Originations

New York Community Bancorp Inc., Westbury, N.Y., and Roslyn Bancorp Inc., Jericho, N.Y., have announced an agreement under which Roslyn would merge into NYCB in a transaction valued at approximately $1.58 billion.The companies said the merger would create the New York metropolitan area's largest community bank, with a pro forma market capitalization of $5.4 billion. The Roslyn Savings Bank, a thrift institution, would operate as a division of NYCB. Roslyn shareholders would receive 0.75 of a share of NYCB common stock in exchange for each share of Roslyn stock held. Joseph R. Ficalora, NYCB's president and chief executive officer, will continue in both roles with the combined company. Joseph L. Mancino, Roslyn's vice chairman, president, and CEO, and Michael F. Manzulli, NYCB's chairman, will serve as co-chairmen of the board. "The merger joins two friendly competitors to create a powerhouse multifamily lender and a premier accumulator of deposits within the attractive metro New York marketplace," said Mr. Ficalora. The companies can be found online at http://www.mynycb.com and http://www.roslyn.com.

Sales of existing single-family homes in Illinois rose 2.7% in May, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors.Statewide, 11,300 existing homes were sold in May compared with 11,003 in May 2002. The statewide median sales price rose 8.7% to $172,290 from $158,500 a year earlier, the IAR said. The association said May was the strongest on record since it began reporting statistics in 1990, and that "the current pace continues to amaze even the veteran sales agents." In the Chicago metropolitan statistical area, resales totaled 7,111 in May, up 2.6% from 6,934 a year earlier, and the median sales price was up 9.5%. The association can be found on the Web at http://www.illinoisrealtor.org.

Sales of existing single-family homes in Florida rose 6% in May, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.Statewide, 19,135 homes were sold in May compared with 17,997 in May 2002. The statewide median sales price rose 8% to $151,200 from $139,900 a year earlier, FAR said. Among the state's larger metropolitan statistical areas, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater reported the largest number of resales, as 3,533 homes changed hands, up 13% from 3,123 homes a year earlier. The MSA recorded an 8% increase in the median sales price.

The median price of existing homes in California was up 15.6% in May from the level recorded in May 2002, but sales were down 7.7% from a year earlier, according to the California Association of Realtors."Low mortgage interest rates, coupled with continued strong demand in California real estate, drove the median price upward in May," said CAR president Toby Bradley. "But with the median price of a single-family home posting double-digit increases in 22 out of the past 24 months, affordability concerns are increasing for many families in California." The median price in May was $369,290. CAR can be found online at http://www.car.org.

The ratings on two classes of GMAC Commercial Mortgage Securities Inc. series 1997-C1 have been lowered by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.The downgrades were as follows: class G, from BB to B-plus; and class H, from B-minus to CCC-minus. S&P said the downgrades were based on "potential losses" from five delinquent loans and three real-estate-owned loans, as well as a growing number of loans on the master servicer's watchlist. "The delinquent loans include the second-largest loan in the pool ($28.9 million, 2.1%), which is secured by a promissory note and a deed of trust on six skilled-nursing facilities in Connecticut," the rating agency said. S&P can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Pittsburgh, has announced an agreement whereby its loan processing division, PNC Consumer Services, will provide loan origination and fulfillment services for the home equity division of ABN Amro Mortgage Group Inc.Under the arrangement, ABN Amro Mortgage will market its home equity products to customers who are invited to apply by calling PNC's call center. The applications will be processed by the PNC Consumer Services loan center, and if accepted the loan center staff will underwrite the loans, create loan documentation packages, and coordinate the closings, PNC said. The company can be found online at http://www.pnc.com and http://www.pncconsumerservices.com.

Cohen & Steers Capital Management, New York, has launched a real estate investment trust and preferred income fund that plans to raise about $1.1 billion in assets.The objective of the fund is to invest in a combination of REITs and corporate preferred securities, seeking "high current income with a secondary objective of capital appreciation," the company said. The fund is issuing approximately 42.75 million shares at $25 per share, excluding additional shares that may be issued if the underwriters exercise their overallotment option. The fund also plans to issue additional preferred shares that could bring its assets to approximately $1.7 billion, the company said. Shares of the fund have begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RNP.

The North Carolina predatory lending law has cut down on the number of loans containing abusive terms without restricting access to credit, according to a study by the University of North Carolina’s Center for Community Capitalism.The number of loans containing prepayment penalties of three years or longer, which the study’s authors said was a good sign of a predatory loan, has dropped 72%. Even while fewer such loans were made, borrowers with impaired credit had 31% greater access to loans, and subprime home purchase loans also increased 43%, keeping apace with the region, CCC said. The study used an analysis database of 3.3 million loans, provided by the Loan Performance company. It was paid for by the Center for Responsible Lending. CCC can be found online at http://www.ccc.unc.edu.

SunTrust Banks Inc., Atlanta, has announced an agreement to acquire Sun America Mortgage Corp., also based in Atlanta.The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under the agreement, Sun America will become part of SunTrust Mortgage Inc., SunTrust's mortgage banking subsidiary, but it will operate as a locally managed unit under its own name, SunTrust said. Sun America's two principals, Bo Means and Ted Harrison Jr., will continue to manage the company's day-to-day operations. The majority of Sun America's mortgage loan production comes from builder-referred, move-up, and first-time homebuyers, SunTrust said. "Sun America's consistent focus on the builder community and originating purchase loans fits right in with our growth strategies," said Sterling Edmunds Jr., president and chief executive officer of SunTrust Mortgage. The company can be found online at http://www.suntrustmortgage.com.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 5.24% for the week ending June 27 from the survey-record low of 5.21% recorded the previous two weeks, while the ARM rate fell to a record low, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 4.62% to 4.63%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages fell from a record low of 3.51% to a new low of 3.45%. Fees and points averaged 0.6 points for all three mortgage categories. "There were further signs this week that the economy may be finally taking a turn for the better," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "Evidence of this change in momentum can be seen in the Fed's remarks [June 25] that it was taking a neutral bias in terms of future intervention." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 6.55% and 5.99%, respectively, and the average one-year ARM rate was 4.61%, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Freddie Mac is promising to release the "principal findings" of an internal investigation into the company's accounting mess later this summer, which could shed more light on the firing of its former president David Glenn.Freddie Mac's board of directors hired an outside counsel, James Doty, to conduct an inquiry into the accounting decisions that resulted in an underreporting of the secondary mortgage giant's earnings. Mr. Doty is a partner at Baker Botts in Washington. The board allegedly fired Mr. Glenn for not cooperating with Mr. Doty's inquiry. The board's counsel also is expected to address the issue of whether Freddie Mac officials deliberately adopted certain accounting interpretations involving derivatives and investment classifications to smooth out earnings over time. Mr. Doty plans to present an interim report to the board of directors in July and a final report before the end of September. "Freddie Mac expects to make public Board Counsel's principal findings following those presentations," the company said.

Capital Automotive REIT, McLean, Va., has announced the execution of a $100 million construction credit agreement with General Motors Acceptance Corp.The one-year financing, renewable annually, will bear an interest rate at an undisclosed spread over the London interbank offered rate. The proceeds will be used to fund construction and improvement financing for existing tenants, the real estate investment trust said. CARS, which acquires real property and improvements used by operators of multifranchised automotive dealerships, can be found online at http://www.capitalautomotive.com.

Class M of Lehman Brothers Inc.'s LB 2002-LLF C3 commercial mortgage pass-through certificates has been downgraded from BBB-minus to BB and placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings.The rating agency also upgraded six classes from the deal and affirmed the ratings on 12 others. Fitch attributed the downgrade to its concern about three loans representing 20.4% of the pool: Michigan Industrial Portfolio (12.1%), Boulder Portfolio (5.4%), and Decorative Center of Houston (2.9%). "Although these underlying properties have deteriorating performance, no loan is or has been delinquent," Fitch said.

Classes A and IO of Greenwich Capital Acceptance Inc.'s commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2001-ZC-1, have been downgraded from A1 to A3 by Moody's Investors Service.The transaction consists of a single fixed-rate mortgage loan secured by a mortgage on the Shore Club Hotel in the Art Deco Historic District of Miami Beach, Fla. Moody's said its ratings on the downgraded classes are based on a surety wrap provided by ZC Specialty Insurance Co., whose insurance financial strength rating was downgraded from A1 to A3 by the rating agency May 30.

Classes A-3A, A-4A, A-1B, and A-BX of CR 2000-ZC2 commercial mortgage pass-through certificates have been downgraded from A1 to A3 by Moody's Investors Service.The transaction consists of a single loan secured by fee interests in 25 assisted-living facilities and one combination assisted-living/skilled nursing home property owned by Alterra Healthcare. The properties are located in 11 states. Moody's said its ratings on the downgraded classes are based on a surety wrap provided by ZC Specialty Insurance Co., Centre Reinsurance (U.S. Ltd.), and related entities whose insurance financial strength ratings were downgraded from A1 to A3 by the rating agency May 30. Moody's can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.

Maguire Properties Inc., a Los Angeles-based real estate investment trust, has priced an initial public offering of 36.51 million shares of common stock at $19 per share.Credit Suisse First Boston LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. are the joint book-running managers for the offering. The underwriters have been granted an option to buy up to approximately 5.48 million additional shares to cover any overallotments, Maguire said.

American Financial Realty Trust, a Jenkintown, Pa.-based real estate investment trust, has priced an initial public offering of 55.95 million common shares at $12.50 per share.The net proceeds of about $642 million will be used primarily to fund the acquisition of additional properties, AFRT said. Of the IPO shares, 200,000 are being sold by a shareholder, while the rest are being sold by AFRT, the company said. The underwriters have a 30-day option to buy up to approximately 8.39 million additional shares to cover any overallotments. The REIT acquires real estate, primarily bank branches and office buildings, from financial institutions and manages them under lease arrangements. Lewis S. Ranieri, chairman of AFRT, is widely regarded as the father of the mortgage-backed security. Banc of America Securities and Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. acted as joint managers of the offering.

Average existing-home prices in the United States have not risen at all in the past six months, and many cities have begun to report price declines, according to John Talbott, the author of a McGraw-Hill book titled "The Coming Crash in the Housing Market."Mr. Talbott points to six-month figures that provide a different perspective from statistics cited by real estate industry groups, which show average resale prices up 7% for the 12 months ended March 31, McGraw-Hill said. "For many cities in the country, home real estate has already begun to trade off, with fully 60% of those that reported data showing a price decline," the publisher said. "This is a far more pessimistic story than that presented by industry news releases that are dependent on 12-month comparisons." McGraw-Hill said the differences between rises and declines in resale prices exceed 20 percentage points in some cities, such as Philadelphia; Newark, N.J.; Amarillo, Texas; and Toledo, Ohio. In Philadelphia, resale prices rose 25.7% for the 12 months ended March 31, but they declined 5.02% for the six months ended March 31, according to the publisher.

The Market Composite Index, an overall measure of mortgage applications, fell to 1554.5 on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended June 20 from 1701.7 the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications were down 8.7% on the week and up 116.1% from the level recorded a year earlier. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Purchase Index decreased from 419.1 to 411.2, and the Refinance Index fell from 9162.7 to 8204.6. Refinancings represented 75.8% of total applications, down from 77.3% the previous week, while adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 15.6%. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose from a survey-record low of 4.99% to 5.10%, and points (including the origination fee) increased from 1.58 to 1.62 for loans with 80% loan-to-value ratios, the MBA reported. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mbaa.org.

Freddie Mac said Wednesday morning that earnings from previous years will be restated upward by as much as $4.5 billion.The stunning announcement came at 7 a.m. Wednesday, a few hours before Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., chairman of a House Financial Services subcommittee, was set to hold hearings on restructuring the regulatory apparatus for both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac offered a range of $1.5 billion to $4.5 billion on the restatement, noting that the change will cover net earnings in 2000, 2001, and 2002. The company also said the restatement would affect periods prior to 2000. In announcing the restatement range, company chief executive Greg Parseghian said: "The information we are disclosing today reflects poorly on Freddie Mac's past accounting, control, and disclosure practices." Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.