REITs

Annaly Capital Management, the largest real estate investment trust that buys mortgage debt, agreed to purchase Hatteras Financial Corp. for $1.5 billion as the company expands its property business.

Eight years after subprime mortgages all but disappeared, U.S. buyers with bad credit can still own homes.

Market volatility and new regulatory burdens are thinning the ranks of commercial mortgage lenders that underwrite loans for securitizations. Activity is slowing down as a result, and it is unclear if banks and insurers will fill the void, especially outside the largest cities.

Richard Jennings, who founded and led the mortgage-finance group at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and went on to start his own real estate investment-banking firm, has died. He was 72.

Radian Group's Clayton Holdings hired Brian Wornow to be senior managing director of lending services as the mortgage-information unit seeks more business from Wall Street firms.