RMBS

Home prices have fallen nearly 4% from October 2009 to October 2010, according to CoreLogic's housing price index, which includes sales of foreclosed properties. Since July, the HPI has declined for three consecutive months.

Mortgage rates jumped for the fifth straight week as Treasurys have backed up sharply following President Obama's proposal last week to lower tax rates, as well as in response to stronger-than- expected economic news recently.

On a recent tour of Jacksonville, Fla., Paul Miller, managing director of FBR Capital Markets, found plenty of houses selling for $10,000 to $25,000, with most purchase prices below $100,000. But jumbo mortgages were few and far between.

New capital requirements under the Basel III framework would have cost banks roughly $770 billion had they been fully implemented at the end of last year, according to a 32-page study released Thursday by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

An endgame to the foreclosure crisis is emerging and it centers on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Ginnie Mae has repurchased $4.5 billion of delinquent loans out of securitized pools this year in an effort to reduce losses on servicing portfolios it inherited from LendAmerica and other defaulted issuers.

Standard & Poor's placed 1,196 tranches in 129 re-REMIC transactions on watch for possible downgrade.

Bank of America Corp. has begun potential settlement discussions with large institutional investors who bought MBS that later underperformed, causing losses at these entities, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Moody's Investors Service analysts said they don't believe Countrywide, now part of Bank of America Corp., routinely failed to transfer mortgage notes to trusts when the lender securitized loans.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer, who will chair the House Financial Services oversight subcommittee next year, is demanding answers about how Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's participation in a loan modification program would benefit taxpayers.