RMBS

Moody’s Investors Service said that Spain, Greece and the U.K. are the European countries most vulnerable to a precipitous drop in housing prices from an economic shock, according to a report released Thursday on the agency’s methodology for stressing house prices linked to its RMBS transactions.

The differential in pricing between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS has widened over the past year despite a high level of refinancings and issuance. But concerns are growing that investors’ preference for Fannie mortgage-backed securities could increase even more as refinancings decline later this year, according to officials at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Both GSEs are wards of the federal government.

The nation’s mega servicers are increasing their use of principal reductions in modifying loans as they fulfill obligations under the $25 billion robo-signing settlement with the state attorneys general and federal agencies, according to new figures released by the Treasury Department.

Despite intense volatility buffeting the Eurozone in recent months, Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees long-term strengths in the region’s structured finance space.

Milestone Merchant Partners is circulating an offering book on $30.8 billion of mortgage servicing rights that once belonged to now-defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, Ocala, Fla.

An executive at a real estate investment trust that invests in agency and non-agency MBS said proposed credit risk-sharing opportunities with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are among the type of investments his firm would like to buy into.

Freddie Mac's new offering of Structured Pass-Through Certificates backed exclusively by multifamily mortgages with a 7-year term will be sized at $1.0 billion.

New record lows in mortgage rates provided a modest 1.3% stimulus in mortgage application activity for the holiday-shortened week ending June 1.

Former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chair Sheila Bair is at helm of a new private sector, volunteer group, The Systemic Risk Council.