Finance

Pending home sales, a key leading indicator for the resale sector, were up in June for the fifth consecutive month, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Federal regulators are starting to put pressure on banks to recognize losses on second liens in markets where the first mortgage is underwater due to declining house values.

After filing the largest real estate bankruptcy case in history last April, General Growth Properties (GGP) has identified substantive consolidation of its special purpose entities (SPEs) as a real possibility in its proceedings.

The latest results from London-based HSBC Holdings show its mortgage business in the United States and two other regions improving in some respects, but runoff of troubled legacy assets still leaves U.S. operations with net losses.

Eight newly defaulted loans worth over $100 million have entered special servicing, according to Fitch Ratings in its latest edition of What's in Special Servicing, a report on U.S. CMBS. The agency said that recent defaults include two hotel portfolios, Red Roof Inn and Extended Stay.

Harbourmaster Capital Management announced its new business venture that will provide advice and asset management services to institutional clients, and will be solely focused on portfolios of ABS.

Barclays Capital, which brought in just over a third of the £2.9 billion its parent earned in the first six months of the year, has big hiring plans this year, mostly in Europe and Asia, its president told IDD on Monday.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said in a monthly report that completed loan modifications fell for a second-straight month in May, dropping to 10,400.

Mortgage servicers are urging the Treasury Department to relax some of the requirements of the Obama administration's loan-modification program, claiming the time-consuming process of gathering documents and collecting signatures has become a major impediment.

Total agency MBS issuance for 1H09 totaled $916 billion with net issuance at $286 billion.

Sorrento Capital hired Steve Ozonian as its executive chairman of the board. The addition comes closely after the group’s acquisition of REO.com, which is part of a plan to expand into the residential and consumer finance industries.

CIT Group's recent financial uncertainty has raised a lot of questions about what to expect when an ABS servicer faces the possibility of bankruptcy.

In March of 2007, HR Ratings in Mexico opened its doors. The moment seemed historically auspicious. The domestic debt market had grown into a formidable platform for issuers, with asset-backeds staging a placement record of around $6 billion in 2006. Rumblings from sub-prime told off a pesky but contained phenomenon up north.

The American Securitization Forum's Project RESTART, an industry initiative to renew investor confidence in the mortgage and securitization markets, took several big steps forward in mid-July, including requesting comment on model RMBS representations and warranties.

With corporate acquisitions in 2009 about as plentiful as water in the Mojave Desert, intellectual property could prove to be not only the next fountain of deal flow for private-equity sponsors, but also a potential tool for helping their portfolio companies.

Foreclosures crept back to the forefront last month as the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would push for loan modifications.

The new issue calendar for the Aug. 6 TALF subscription is getting filled with $5.3 billion of eligible ABS announced from across the auto fleet, floorplan, credit card, equipment, and private credit student loan sectors.

Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., and 40 other congressmen are urging the Federal Reserve Board to extend its Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility to provide "essential support" for the commercial real estate mortgage market.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is conducting its first legacy loan sale, which gives investors access to affordable financing to purchase a 50% stake in a pool of residential mortgages.

The Treasury Department has unveiled its loan modification insurance program to protect investors from declines in house prices.