Secondary markets

The regulator of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae plans to ease annual restrictions on their apartment mortgage business to prevent a lending slowdown.

President Obama's administration has joined Democratic and Republican lawmakers in attacking potential raises for the top executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Bolstered by higher originations, Freddie Mac reported Tuesday that net income was $524 million for the first quarter, up from $227 million a quarter earlier.

Freddie Mac will return $746 million to the Treasury Department next month after reporting first-quarter net income of $524 million, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.

Banks want all loans held in portfolio to be classified as ultrasafe regardless of the underwriting characteristics or of a bank's asset size. But consumer activists and independent mortgage lenders are raising red flags ahead of possible Senate Banking action.

Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo are first are marketing nearly $4 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities via three conduits slated to price the first week of May.

New York law gives investors who say they were duped into buying flawed mortgage bonds six years to sue. But does the clock start ticking on the day the bonds were packaged or after problems with the loans came to light?

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could require an additional bailout of as much as $157.3 billion in a deep recession, according to the results of stress tests released by the regulator for the U.S.-owned companies.

Mortgage interest rates rose during the week thanks to increases in home values and sales as well as slower-than-expected economic growth, Freddie Mac said.

Freddie Mac plans to auction off $233 million of nonperforming loans, the government-sponsored enterprise announced.

With the housing market and fundamentals showing signs of health, investors may want to begin turning their focus from commercial to residential real estate, according to analysts at William Blair.

Flagstar Bancorp beat expectations as it reported stronger mortgage volume in the first quarter.

Waterstone Financial saw higher quarterly profits thanks to a 352% increase in its mortgage banking segment.

Tricon Capital Group, the latest entrant in the single-family rental securitization market, offers investors greater exposure to two unusual types of collateral: Section 8 homes and condominiums.

A Wall Street financial instrument that amplified losses during the U.S. property-bubble collapse is seeing a revival.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's warning that so called super-priority liens on houses do not come before Freddie Mac's bodes well for investors in the mortgage giant's latest risk-sharing transaction, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Freddie Mac has planned its first Extended Timeline Pool Offering, the government-sponsored entity announced this week.

Credit Suisse is marketing its third RMBS deal this year called CSMC 2015-3.

Increasing foreclosure levels in Atlantic County, N.J., are a credit negative for the government, hit hard by Atlantic City's recent casino struggles, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Low interest rates may be pressuring margins, but they provided a lift to community banks that sell mortgage originations. Bankers are now debating how long the current refi boom will last.