Secondary markets

Profits from originating mortgages dipped during the third quarter, with independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of banks reporting an average gain of $897, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In the nascent bond market where U.S. government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have insured themselves against losses on $383 billion of home loans, strains are starting to emerge.

The Federal Housing Finance Administration has advised private mortgage insurers that it will delay the release of revised capital standards.

A controversial legal theory on discrimination threatens to disrupt consumer lending and poses a potential liability for anyone securitizing these loans.

From Biblical times to the present, fraud has been the key factor in all financial crises. But there is one financial instrument that, if used correctly, can bring equilibrium to fraud-impacted markets.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency has assigned preliminary ratings to six classes of Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust single-family pass-through certificates.

Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust plans to offer $505 million of debt tied to its rental properties in its first bond sale, according to a person with knowledge of the transaction.

Freddie Mac announced its first K-deal that includes a manufactured housing community loan.

Credit Suisse Group settled a three-year-old lawsuit by Assured Guaranty accusing the bank of misrepresenting the quality of loans in mortgage-backed securities it insured.

Goldman Sachs is preparing to bring its first post-crisis prime jumbo residential mortgage-backed securities transaction to market.

Having fought many battles with Congress over curbs to bond and other programs that affect affordable housing, John Murphy expects the challenges will continue as he retires from the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies after 30 years as its executive director.

Banks could originate 300,000 more home loans per quarter and face only a slightly higher risk of default, according to a new report. But lenders are unlikely to loosen lending standards until they are sure that Fannie, Freddie and the FHA have eased up on buyback requests.

A Redwood Trust subsidiary priced a $200 million aggregate principal amount of its 5.625% exchangeable senior notes due 2019 in a private offering to institutional buyers.

Fannie Mae has partnered with the Detroit Land Bank Authority to stabilize distressed neighborhoods.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will let borrowers who have gone through foreclosure buy back their homes at market prices under a policy shift announced by the regulator for the two U.S.-owned companies.

More property owners are jumping on a drop in financing costs and loosening terms to pay off their mortgages.

New initiatives meant to increase access to credit have rekindled the debate over whether housing counseling is the best and most cost-effective way for preparing consumers to become mortgage borrowers.

The deals are backed by a fixed-rate loan with a term of 10 years, the longest loan tenure to date for such deals.