Secondary markets

Fannie Mae on Thursday priced a $1.4 billion multifamily DUS REMIC with a large five-year tranche that drew several new investors, a capital markets executive at the agency told this publication.

Standard & Poor’s Thursday said it has released revised criteria for monitoring the performance of existing U.S. RMBS and will be using it to rate deals with collateral originated before 2009.

How long will Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stay this profitable? Answer: as long as their cost of funds (courtesy of Uncle Sam) stays at next to nothing, and the yield on their interest earning assets remains healthy.

Redwood Trust, the most active player in the jumbo securitization market, wants to buy already funded Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loans from mortgage bankers and service the product through a subservicing firm called Cenlar.

Silvergate Bank said it has gotten the approval necessary to become a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage issuer from Ginnie Mae.

Will other correspondent buyers of residential loans follow in the wake of PHH Mortgage and exit the third-party channel?

Fannie reported comprehensive net income of $5.4 billion in the second quarter, a stunning 74% improvement from 1Q and will require no financial assistance from the U.S. Treasury Department.

PHH Corp., the parent company of the nation’s largest nonbank mortgage lender, lost $57 million in the second quarter and signaled its intention to reduce its presence in the correspondent lending channel where it ranks seventh nationwide.

The latest monthly prepayment numbers bear out expectations that refinancing sparked by recent record-low rates has some legs, but they also show that the HARP response is leveling off and the reaction to FHA MIP reductions has been muted, according to Credit Suisse.

These hirings are a precursor to a move into third party origination channels, company executives said.

Tree.com Inc. had net income of over $27 million in the second quarter, driven largely by the $26 million gain recorded on the sale of Home Loan Center Inc. to Discover.

GoldenTree Asset Management LP, the $15.7 billion hedge fund specializing in corporate credit, has hired former Goldman Sachs trader Deeb Salem as the firm expands its mortgage-bond team.

The government controlled Freddie Mac posted solid earnings of $1.1 billion in the second quarter – after paying the U.S. Treasury Department $1.8 billion in dividends on the preferred stock it owns.

Fortress Investment Group, which controls a large chunk of Nationstar Mortgage, has launched a $500 million private equity fund with a stated goal of buying mortgage servicing rights.

Valued Veterans, an appraisal management company, seeks to train military veterans as real estate appraisers.

At Origination News’ discussion with the officers of FAMP at its annual convention in Tampa, national housing correspondent Lew Sichelman asked how the changes to federal law have impacted the state’s education requirements and how conditions are in the various markets that make up this very diverse state.

MountainView Servicing Group, Denver, recently completed the sale of three bulk packages of mortgage servicing rights that had combined balances of $487 million.

Community Trust Bank had $385 million in outstanding warehouse commitments at June 30, almost double what it had a year ago.

Churchill Mortgage chief operating officer Matthew Clarke states “an investment in training is so important” for a mortgage lender and the Brentwood, Tenn.-based firm is putting its money where its mouth is.

The financial health of state housing finance agencies is mixed, Fitch Ratings reported last week.