Secondary markets

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley reiterated calls Wednesday for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offer principal reductions to distressed borrowers and to participate in nonprofit home buyback programs.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's 10-year plan to build and preserve affordable housing units is credit neutral for New York City, according to Moody's Investors Service.

The government-sponsored enterprises just went a long way toward encouraging lenders to make more loans to borrowers with lower credit scores.

In a wide-ranging speech on Tuesday, new FHFA Director Mel Watt said he would not weigh in on the housing finance reform debate percolating in Congress, while also detailing what changes he plans to make at the agency, including encouraging more access to credit.

There will be enough grist for the NPL mill for at least three more years, industry insiders say.

Freddie Mac, which along with Fannie Mae has forced home lenders to buy back tens of billions of dollars of flawed mortgages, said the companies are loosening rules that made banks more cautious about extending credit.

The buyouts will lead to prepayments of 5% or more for some holders of mortgage-backed securities. The loans were originated from 2005 to 2008, the heyday of interest-only loans.

The Senate Banking Committee is said to be moving toward a vote on major housing finance reform legislation next week, but the effort is likely to attract no more than 13 votes, falling short of what would be needed to advance the bill to the Senate floor this year.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency released a new monthly credit report to monitor the performance of commercial mortgage-backed securities.

Six Democrats whose support is crucial to a U.S. Senate plan to replace government-owned mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have decided they won't support the proposal without major revisions, dimming its chances of becoming law this year.

The regulator's Office of the Inspector General says it should have issued formal guidance to Fannie and Freddie over their dealings with the MIs.

The government-sponsored enterprises remain profitable, but executives are raising fresh concerns about their ability to withstand a recession because of restrictions on raising capital.

Proposed reforms for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae seem to be bogged down in the House and Senate. It might be time for legislators to start thinking about different solutions.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will pay the U.S. Treasury Department a combined $10.2 billion by June 30, an amount reflecting the profits the U.S.-owned mortgage financiers reported for the first quarter.

Even if private securitization deals are smaller or fewer, Clayton's loan review and due diligence services should be in hot demand as memories of the crisis linger, Radian reckons.

American Homes 4 Rent said that an affiliate will launch the offering of a securitization transaction by the end of this week.

Bill Ackman, who runs the $15 billion Pershing Square Capital Management, said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will probably soar because there's no way to replace the mortgage guarantee companies.

Prices for loans underlying commercial mortgage-backed securities held steady over the past month, according to DebtX, which operates an online marketplace for loan sales.

IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc. is pitching Wall Street on new derivative contracts allowing investors to wager on U.S. homeowner defaults, six years after subprime-mortgage swaps helped fuel the financial crisis, according to five people with knowledge of the matter.

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