A recent survey conducted by Information Management Network (IMN), found that securitization market participants believe that the development of a U.S. covered bonds market is long overdue and the introduction of more private capital will be a positive move for the space.

With regulators facing the potential of significant revisions to their risk-retention rule, there is growing speculation among industry and consumer groups that the agencies will go back to the drawing board and issue a new proposal.

Credit rating agency DBRS this week approved American Mortgage Consultants, New York, as a third-party due diligence provider for residential MBS.

Helios AMC, a commercial real estate special servicer which is sponsored by Ranieri Partners, has acquired real estate advisory firm The Situs Companies. The combined entity will retain the Situs name.

The Obama Administration's efforts to expand a GSE refinancing program and reach a large number of underwater borrowers will depend on how far the Federal Housing Finance Agency will go in providing lenders relief from loan buy-backs, according to industry officials and analysts watching the effort.

The GSE regulator told House Democrats at a closed door meeting that the Federal Housing Finance Agency is committed to making meaningful changes to a special program that will allow more borrowers with high LTV loans to refinance at lower mortgage rates.

Commercial real estate executives expect to see improvements in revenue and headcount next year, but the majority predict a full economic recovery is years away, according to a recent survey by KPMG LLP.

The continued turnaround of hotels added to another decline for U.S. CMBS delinquencies, according to the latest index results from Fitch Ratings.

The final quarter of 2011 got underway with the return of the Fed which began reinvesting its paydowns from Agency MBS and debentures back into the MBS sector.

Equifax Inc has launched a borrower misrepresentation solution for hidden debt and an insurance program that protects lenders against losses often stemming from mortgage repurchase requirements through Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Fearing that banks might get off too easy in the multi-state mortgage settlement talks, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is preparing to file lawsuits against the nation's largest servicers for wrongfully foreclosing on customers.