The Netherlands is auctioning off mortgage-backed securities it acquired when it bailed out ING Groep NV in 2009.

The funds are intended to support housing, business and infrastructure needs beyond those addressed by other forms of public and private assistance.

Requiring only independent mortgage bankers to meet certain education standards is “patently unfair” for both independent mortgage bankers and consumers, according to Mortgage Bankers Association president David Stevens.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities with balances at or below $10 million dominated transfers to special servicing in 2013 and there is reason to believe the trend will continue, analysts say.

The qualified mortgage rule’s implementation was supposed to give mortgage-backed securities market participants more certainty about collateral value, but remaining questions about government policy keep PLMBS a work in progress.

The Pittsburgh regional bank previously resolved Fannie Mae repurchase demands for an undisclosed sum.

Only Minnesota’s giant Mall of America draws more visitors than the Aventura, Fla.-based shopping center that backs the collateral interests in the more than $1 billion commercial mortgage-backed securitization.

Often one of the biggest obstacles to a refi has been the need for a subordination agreement from a junior lien holder.

The city of Los Angeles is seeking damages for reduced property tax revenue and the costs of maintaining foreclosed properties, the complaint says.

A lawsuit has been filed questioning the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s decision to block municipalities from using eminent domain to modify a distressed borrower’s mortgage and prevent foreclosures.

The City Council unanimously approved a plan to make market-value offers on toxic loans and reissue them to homeowners.

Changes may come after lenders have implemented and adjusted to the ability-to-repay rules.

It will use CoreLogic data to empower research conducted by the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center.

Yields for 10-year Treasury notes rose to the highest level in more than two months Wednesday.

Cities and federal agencies have new requirements for maintaining foreclosed assets, so property preservation and servicing executives now spend lots of time poring over local codes.

If the switch is not done right, originators are setting themselves up for trouble.

Plans to wind down the agencies may halt now that they are profitable and Congress is working on reforms.

A continuing reduction in bank-owned foreclosure inventories alongside third-quarter existing home inventory increases suggests “inventory bottomed early in 2013.”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is a rare government agency that funds private enforcement of its own regulations. It does so via its Fair Housing Initiatives Program, which offers grants to nonprofits to carry out the work.