RMBS

The long expected boom in banks unloading their REO and nonperforming loans may finally be afoot.

Despite a recent uptick in national home prices, Clear Capital reported that home values are down 3.2% for the first six months of this year, and the real estate data firm is projecting another 2.4% decline through the second half of 2011.

The price of being a good neighbor can be steep for banks foreclosing on condominiums and homes in planned communities.

Some experts suggest that in disputes between investors and banks involving securitized residential mortgage product, investors have found it challenging to force banks to repurchase loans — a factor that could influence whether a huge settlement in this area pending at press time goes through.

While some bankers are secretly gleeful the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) does not yet have a director, they are the ones likely to pay a heavy price as a result.

Fitch Ratings updated its criteria for rating Dutch RMBS transactions backed by the Nationale Hypotheek Garantie (NHG). The action could possibly cause previously rated 'AAA' paper backed by NHGs to be downgraded to 'BBB."

The Hope Now Alliance May mortgage loan data showed that foreclosure sales fell to 68,000 in May, a 7% drop from the 73,000 recorded in April, and marking the second consecutive month of decline.

Even as he favored a broader exemption from risk retention than currently proposed, Rep. Barney Frank said Monday regulators should not undermine skin-in-the-game rules by turning the exception into the rule.

Global real estate funds management firm Agincourt Capital plans to launch this Thursday what it said is the first-ever offshore renminbi secured convertible bond fund for Australian residential and commercial real estate, and it is also in the process of structuring an RMB bond fund that will invest in certain New York City properties.

Bank of America on Monday tapped its legacy servicing chief, Terry Laughlin, as the bank’s new chief risk officer.