Freddie Mac acquired almost $26 billion of residential loans during April, a steep 38% decline from the month prior, a sign that originations may be slowing — or that the GSE is losing business to its cross-town rival.

DBRS has released its methodology for rating U.S. letter of credit (LOC)-supported structured finance deals.

World Omni Financial Corp. today filed a prospectus supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue under its World Omni Automobile Lease Securitization Trust 2012-A.

U.K.-based Clydesdale Bank is planning to issue new covered bonds from its regulated covered bond program.

The Treasury Department’s decision to raise the amount servicers can pay second-mortgage holders for a lien release should give its short sales program a boost, according to an industry expert.Second-lien holders can veto any short sale so Treasury raised the buyout limit by $2,500 to $8,500 in March along with other improvements to its Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program.

Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has signed HML to offer the U.K.’s first 48 hour "hot’"standby servicing arrangement for the issuer's £437.6 million ($683 million) securitization of U.K. mortgage assets.

Standard & Poors last week upgraded 17 tranches from four CLOs. The rating agency upgraded four tranches to 'AAA' and downgraded a tranche from 'BB' to 'B'.

The nation’s megabanks are continuing to sit on their nonperforming residential loans, although some are currently out in the market with mid-sized packages.

The Senate last week rejected dueling Democrat and Republican proposals to extend the low interest on federally guaranteed student loans as the July 1 deadline to double the rate to 6.8% draws closer.

Proskauer Rose has hired a team of restructuring and insolvency attorneys from bankrupt law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, the New York and London-based firm said.Partners Mark Fennessy and Hazel Miller have joined Proskauer from the troubled Dewey, which filed for bankruptcy protection in New York on Monday, May 28. Fennessy headed Dewey’s European restructuring practice

Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday morning that its national home price index fell 2% in the first quarter on a sequential basis.

Here’s an interesting statistic presented to me by one investor eyeing the mortgage market: over the past 18 months, REITs have raised $26 billion in new equity. Almost all of it has been targeted toward MBS investments. Very little has been plowed into mortgage servicing rights.