Secondary markets

Applications for conventional purchase mortgages reached their highest point since October 2009.

Wells Fargo's home-loan unit has sold a portfolio of reverse-mortgage servicing rights to Walter Investment Management.

We're hearing some mortgage-backed securities risks may seem larger and draw more attention, but the so-called scrivener’s error should not be overlooked because of them.

Phillips Edison-ARC Shopping Center REIT has acquired a portfolio of two retail real estate assets in Florida.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is claiming current policies of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could leave borrowers who were affected by Hurricane Sandy with being forced to make an immediate balloon mortgage payment.

Fitch finds many home equity transactions are now showing some relative improvement due in part to housing market recovery.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency has assigned preliminary ratings to Morgan Stanley Bank of America Merrill Lynch Trust 2013-C9, a new $1.28 billion commercial mortgage-backed securities conduit deal.

redit unions need to capture as many purchase mortgages as possible because the long-running refinance boom is winding down.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency has assigned preliminary ratings to COMM 2013-CCRE7, a $930.2 million commercial mortgage-backed securities conduit deal.

With uncertainty surrounding the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, one CUSO is developing a capital markets alternative credit unions can use.

Mortgage lending activity was weaker than expected in the first quarter and the result is likely to be slimmer profit margins for a number of banks, according to Paul Miller, a managing director at FBR Capital Markets.

Surging U.S. home prices could help shrink the Federal Housing Administration’s projected shortfall in President Obama’s budget due on Wednesday.

Colony Financial has priced a $175 million debt offering at an interest rate of 5% and has granted underwriters an option to buy an additional $25 million of notes to cover overallotments.

The government still dominates the secondary mortgage market but the trend is starting to shift.

A federal court in New York ordered Standard & Poor’s to produce all records related to $72 million of failed mortgage-backed securities CUNA Mutual Group bought from RBS Securities.

UBS-Barclays Commercial Mortgage Trust has another securitization in the works backed by a pool of $1.29 billion of loans.

Mortgage bankers we spoke to recently felt there is no new bubble forming, and that what is happening is a normal correction. We hope they are right!

Banks are lobbying against international plans to tighten rules on securitization claiming they will tie up capital and starve the economy of credit.

Concerns about the integrity of foreclosed property management costs are prompting Fannie Mae and its government overseer, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to take a hard look at the GSE's controls.

Prepayment speeds on 30-year conventional fixed-rate securitizations generally remained stable in the latest month, although some Home Affordable Refinance Program cohorts “were a tad faster” and lower coupons slowed a bit.