Public finance

U.S. mortgage securities, especially those with government backing, are being viewed as a haven for bond investors as they brace for the Federal Reserve to lift interest rates.

California lawmakers passed legislation to change the way communities wind down their shuttered redevelopment agencies, leaving cities and their advocates trying to tally the effects of the last-minute bill.

BlackRock Inc. is the latest company planning to finance investors who buy single-family homes, capitalizing on soaring rental demand as the homeownership rate sits at a five-decade low.

Fannie Mae has closed a credit risk-sharing transaction, with an international reinsurance company participating in this type of deal for the first time.

Shellpoint Partners is preparing to issue its first private-label residential mortgage-backed security since walking away from its last deal in 2013.

The California Housing Finance Agency has ended its use of a U.S. Treasury liquidity program that the agency had relied on since 2009.

Freddie Mac is expanding its risk-sharing efforts meant to protect taxpayers and potentially prepare the $9.4 trillion U.S. home-loan market for its future.

Credit Suisse Group is seeking to sell almost $300 million of notes tied to mortgage-insurance policies written by an American International Group Inc. unit, offering investors a new way to profit from a reviving U.S. housing market.

Plans to reduce U.S. Army ranks by 40,000 soldiers add pressure to military communities and raise risk for bonds used to privatize base housing, experts said.

The Greek debt crisis and China's stock-market crash may put downward pressure on interest rates and delay the Fed's interest rate hike, and they are adding uncertainty at a time when lenders thought recovery would be taking hold.