Secondary markets

Despite home price increases taking place in many real estate markets this year, potential sellers are still reluctant to list their properties for sale, therefore creating tight inventories for prospective buyers.

The American Bankers Association and Independent Community Bankers of America are urging the GSE regulator to block Freddie Mac from imposing a $7,500 annual fee on community banks that are low volume seller/services.

Kelly Marsh seeks to educate Realtors, sellers and buyers of the advantages these loans have, especially for her home market.

Lenders issued and sold $41 billion in Ginnie MBS to investors in May, up from $40 billion in April.

McGraw Hill Financial Inc. and its Standard & Poor’s unit won a bid to move to federal court in New York lawsuits filed by 14 states and the District of Columbia accusing the companies of inflating mortgage-backed securities ratings.

The asking prices on homes for sale have risen 9.5% on a year-over-year basis for May, according to the Trulia Price Monitor.

Yields on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage bonds that guide U.S. home-loan rates approached a 14-month high as May employment data failed to allay concern that the Federal Reserve will pare back its unprecedented stimulus.

Although Fitch has been worried about loosening underwriting standards in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market, it finds that so far delinquencies for CMBS 2.0 “remain virtually nonexistent.”

The Chicago office towers One & Two Prudential Plaza have received a hope note modification made possible by a $75 million new equity investment.

Thirty-year conventional mortgage-backed securities prepayment speeds came in 3% faster in the latest month, including a surprising 6% increase in certain Fannie Mae Home Affordable Refinance Program coupons and vintages.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors is exclusively brokering on behalf of an unnamed bank another bulk residential mortgage servicing rights offering in conjunction with which the seller would like to establish a flow relationship.

Details of a bipartisan plan to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are beginning to emerge.

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings has priced $1 billion in fixed-rate asset-backed term notes whose proceeds will be used to finance certain servicing assets.

Richard Dorfman, the head of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s securitization group, is leaving the organization.

Legislators working on bills to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and reform the housing finance system need to ensure that small lenders don’t lose their access to the secondary market, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency has assigned preliminary ratings to a $1.34 billion CMBS conduit sponsored by JPMorgan and Barclays.

The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based landlord, which began buying foreclosed homes and converting them into rentals last year, had planned to raise as much as $260 million in an IPO this week.

One company sold a package of fixed-rate and agency-backed MBS. It then parked the proceeds into variable-rate mortgage securities.

Newcastle Investment Corp. has completed the sale of 100% of the assets in a collateralized debt obligation.

Inherent market risks are not stopping real estate owners from choosing to operate as niche real estate investment trusts, according to Fitch Ratings.