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Secondary Market

RealtyTrac Foreclosure Data Now Available through Moody’s Analytics

RealtyTrac's foreclosure, property, loan, and home sales data is now available via Moody's Analytics, an independent provider of economic forecasting and credit risk services. By aggregating RealtyTrac's proprietary foreclosure information and combining it with local economic and house price measures, Moody's says banks, asset managers, and federal and local governments are given insight into all stages of the foreclosure process.

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Berkadia Hires BlackRock Founding Partner as New CEO

Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC announced the appointment of Hugh R. Frater as CEO this week. He replaces Michael I. Lipson, who left the organization. Frater was a founding partner and managing director of BlackRock, Inc., the largest publicly traded investment manager. He also served as EVP for the real estate division of PNC Financial Services.

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Losses on CMBS Loan Liquidations Climb in Q2: Moody’s

The severity of losses on liquidating loans backing U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) exceeded their historical average in the second quarter, Moody's Investors Service says in a new report. During Q2, the credit ratings agency says the 342 commercial real estate loans liquidated for a loss had a weighted average loss severity of 42.8 percent, 740 basis points higher than the current average. And Moody's expects loss severity to worsen as more 2006-2008 loans go bad.

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New Rule May Ban GSEs from Investing in Mortgages with Transfer Fees

The Federal Housing Finance Agency wants to restrict Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from purchasing mortgages with private transfer fee covenants, also referred to as Wall Street home resale fees. These fees are sometimes worked into home purchase contracts, and require that a percentage of the sale price be paid to the original owner of the property every time the property is sold, typically for 99 years. FHFA says ""the fees fund purely private streams of income for select market participants and do not benefit homeowners.""

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Treasury Releases Guest List for Next Week’s Housing Finance Forum

Undoubtedly, the model of home financing is in for a change. And the structural bastions of the nation's mortgage system - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - are at the very center of the debate. Ideas range from completely eliminating the two GSEs to turning them into official government agencies. Next week, Treasury will host a conference in Washington, D.C. on the subject, to gather input and suggestions from industry stakeholders. On Thursday, the administration released its guest list for the event.

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Fed to Use Mortgage Bond Proceeds to Reinvigorate Stalled Economy

The Federal Reserve's Tuesday policy meeting signaled a clear shift from earlier in the year, when officials professed stability and the central bank was crafting its exit strategy for stimulus programs. With economic growth in the United States slowing and the threat of a double-dip recession spreading, the Federal Reserve board has decided to take the proceeds from its investments in mortgage bonds and pump new capital into the system. The move is an indication of the Fed's heightened concerns over the current state of the economy.

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Freddie Mac Asks for $1.8B More from Taxpayers after Q2 Loss

Freddie Mac reported Monday that it lost $4.7 billion during the second quarter. The GSE is asking the Treasury for another $1.8 billion of taxpayer dollars. Freddie has drawn $64 billion from its line of credit with the Treasury since the government took control of the mortgage giant in September 2008. Despite a continuous string of losses - this was the 11th in the last 12 quarters - Freddie Mac's latest earnings report actually marks an improvement. For the previous three-month period, the GSE posted a $6.7 billion loss.

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Lawmakers to Explore Ways to Recoup Money from GSEs

Leaders of the House Financial Services Committee say they are looking for ways to recoup the billions of dollars the federal government has sunk into the GSEs over the past two years. Taxpayer support to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stands at $145 billion so far, and the tab keeps rising. Rep. Paul Kanjorski says, ""Twenty years ago, we found a way for industry to pay back the sizable U.S. Treasury payments for resolving the savings-and-loan crisis. We can do it again.""

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Bear Stearns Portfolio Puts New York Fed in Foreclosure Quandary

The U.S. Federal Reserve is in the same boat as the banks now, dealing with a mortgage portfolio that's riddled with deficiencies and delinquencies. The central bank's New York branch has been saddled with a heap of souring loans from the assets it picked up to support the 2008 bailout of Bear Stearns. And now, as more and more of these loans - both residential and commercial - fall into default, the New York Fed is faced with a dilemma: to foreclose or not to foreclose.

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Fannie’s Losses Narrow to $1.2B, with Taxpayers on the Hook for Less

Fannie Mae's second-quarter losses narrowed considerably from the demoralizing financials of the past several years that found the nation's largest mortgage financier underwater itself in a sea of red ink. The GSE reported Thursday that it lost $1.2 billion last quarter. It was Fannie's smallest loss in more than three years. The company also said it needs far less money from taxpayers this quarter - $1.5 billion. The company acquired 68,838 single-family REOs through foreclosure in Q2, and its seriously delinquent rate dropped to 4.99 percent.

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