Secondary markets

Fitch has released a presale report on Irvine Core Office Trust 2013-IRV, a commercial mortgage-backed securitization backed by $875 million in loans on Southern California office buildings.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s charters exempt them from paying real estate transfer taxes, a federal judge ruled.

Berkadia Commercial Mortgage is looking beyond apartments as the U.S. government scales back in the market.

Silvergate Bank funded $663 million of loans through its mortgage warehouse program, down from $815 million in 4Q12.

Sabal Financial Group is expanding its commercial mortgage-backed securities business with the launch of a transaction support services division called Sabal Commercial Advisors.

President Obama's nomination of Rep. Mel Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency is highly likely to stall in the Senate, but that may not matter to the White House.

Trepp LLC said delinquencies among loans used in commercial mortgage-backed securities are now at their lowest level in over two years.

Ellington Residential Mortgage REIT has priced an initial public offering of 6,450,000 common shares at $20 per share.

MFA Financial generated first-quarter income with per common share of 21 cents and net income to common shareholders of $75 million.

Government-backed mortgages have accounted for more than 90% of U.S. housing financing since 2008.

The bond purchases, known as quantitative easing, have helped push up stock prices and reduce bond yields.

Hudson City Bancorp reported a 34% decline in quarterly profit as it waits for regulators to approve its sale to M&T Bank.

President Obama has picked Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Mortgage application volume for the week ended April 26 increased 1.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week prior.

The request for a stay was opposed by NCUA, which argued that delay could prejudice the outcome of its cases by changing the nature and availability of certain evidence and records.

Loan acquisitions by Fannie Mae fell 11% in March following a 9% decline in February.

Fannie Mae is providing loan-level performance data on 18 million loans to get private investors interested in buying into several risk-sharing transactions this year.

We're hearing that although some big players have exited wholesale in recent years, New York mortgage brokers today have the support of several strong, small to midsized lenders in this channel.

National Mortgage Insurance Co. has become operational, having started to write policies in early April.

Colliers International has arranged $72 million refinancing for eight retail centers in the Denver area.