Finance

Freddie Mac is coming to market with a $538 million CMBS deal backed by 19 multifamily properties owned by Apartment Investment & Management Co.

Republican lawmakers have drafted a proposal that would raise the minimum downpayment on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans to 5% and drastically scale back the size of the federal mortgage insurance program, according to trade group officials familiar with the effort.

Principia Partners appointed Jason Foundakos as sales and business development executive based in New York.

RBS Securities hired Perrin Arturi as a managing director on its agency passthough trading desk.

Regulators' mortgage servicing consent orders require big banks to conduct a thorough review of their foreclosures. On Friday they were told what "thorough" means.

Bank of America Corp. is shedding its remaining interest in asset manager BlackRock for $2.55 billion.

Ocwen Financial is one of at least three investors that were invited in by Goldman Sachs to make a final round of bids on Litton Loan Servicing, the Wall Street firm’s specialty servicing division, according to investment bankers and others close to the situation.

The U.S. government and a group of private investors plan to spin off the subprime lending and servicing division of American International Group (AIG), by selling $500 million worth of stock to the public – through a REIT structure.

It’s official: Leveraged loans are back in Europe and they are here to stay.

Pending mortgage-related regulations threaten to become a "tsunami" of burdens that could unintentionally harm an already fragile mortgage industry, Acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh said Thursday.

Federal bank regulators need to update their commercial real estate (CRE) guidance to bring standards more in line with how examiners treat loans following the financial crisis, according to a new oversight report.

David Jones, the founder and chief executive of CastleOak Securities, compares his firm to a sports car.

The chief financial officer of nonperforming loan (NPL) investor Kondaur Capital departed the company about 10 days ago – at the same time that the NPL investor’s founder and chairman Jon Daurio was forced out by the firm’s board, National Mortgage News has learned.According to NPL investors and a source at Kondaur, CFO Janice Ramocinski resigned from the privately held firm, whose investors and backers include The Carlyle Group, and Tourmalet Advisors.

The Treasury Department has directed the 20 largest Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) servicers to establish "relationship managers" who will provide a single point of contact for homeowners seeking a loan modification.

At yesterday's American Securitization Forum Sunset Seminar on the future of mortgage finance, panelists warned that if GSEs are withdrawn at this time, the housing market will continue its downward spiral.

Mortgage late payments rose in the first quarter to an overall national rate of 8.32%, although the 90-plus day rate and the number of foreclosures started declined, according to new figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board this morning proposed a plan that would allow credit unions to prepay their annual assessments for the corporate credit union bailout, which they project will amount to $2.94 billion, or 38 basis points, for this year and next.

The market for CMBS has staged a comeback this year, and now it appears that there is some interest in restarting the market for CDOs backed by commercial real estate (CRE) as well.

For the week ending May 19, 30-year fixed rates averaged 4.61% with an average 0.7 point, down two basis points from last week. This brings the no-point rate at just below 4.80%.

Pricing on a CLO managed by Symphony Asset Management has been set by Morgan Stanley, according to sources.