The White House has put together a long list of candidates who might eventually replace Edward DeMarco as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, according to officials who have been briefed on the matter.

Mortgage backed securities account for the lowest share of total structured finance issuance in four years, according to data published by Dealogic.

Extended Stay is looking to refinance its $2.6 billion, large-loan, hotel CMBS next year, said one source familiar with the deal.

An even wider range of securitizations, including some ABCP and CLOs, are now exempt from a requirement to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

CNH Capital America filed a registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue a $20 million equipment trust asset backed securitization.

Greg Reiter has joined Wells Fargo Securities as managing director and head of Residential Mortgage Research, the bank announced today.

A conduit offering led by JP Morgan and a new single borrower transaction led by Goldman Sachs entered the pipeline late last week, which will bring year to date issuance total to $48bn, according to Standard & Poor’s.

An increase in new builds in the multifamily sector in recent months has raised some concerns that the market may face supply risk down the line; but CMBS industry analysts said it’s probably premature to suggest that the sector is headed towards a bubble.

The housing market finally appears to be on the mend, but the “shadow” inventory of housing that is unoccupied but has not yet been released into the market, either as a rental property or sale listing bears watching.

The Bank of England’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) has slowed U.K. RMBS issuance and is partly responsible for a slowdown in European securitization issuance in October, according to Standard & Poor’s.

November prepayments were not as bad as investors feared, given the collision of elevated refinancing activity on lower mortgage rates in response to QE3 and the rush by servicers to close loans before guarantee fees increased on Dec. 1.

Due diligence provider Allonhill LLC, Denver, Thursday afternoon laid off 140 staff workers and contractors as part of a company-wide restructuring.