Secondary Market

DebtX, a full-service loan sale advisor based in Boston, announced Tuesday that it readying plans to sell approximately $200 million of performing commercial real estate loans on behalf of a major U.S. financial institution. The sale, which is set to take place August 18, will include 90 performing loans collateralized primarily by properties in California, New York, Washington, Washington, D.C., and Illinois.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs said Tuesday that its second quarter profit plummeted 82 percent to its lowest level since 2008. The Wall Street fixture explained in its earnings announcement that the disappointing second quarter numbers were the product of a tough trading environment; the company's $550 million dollar settlement with the SEC; and a $600 million payout for the U.K. bank payroll tax.

Merscorp, Inc. (MERS) is making investor information for loans registered on the MERS System available to borrowers at no charge. Through the MERS ServicerID Web site, both servicer and investor information are now displayed. The added investor information is an expansion of the MERS InvestorID program launched in June 2009, which mails a notice to borrowers when the identity of their loan's owner or investor changes.

Prices of U.S. commercial real estate properties as measured by the Moody's/REAL Commercial Property Price Indices (CPPI) increased 3.6 percent in May. It was the second monthly gain in a row, after a 1.7 percent rise in April. But the ratings agency isn't reading too much into the successive increases. Moody's says, expect commercial real estate prices to remain ""choppy"" in the months ahead and transaction volume to be muted.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has promoted Steven Kenny to commercial real estate banking region executive for the states of New York and New Jersey. In his new position, Kenny will be responsible for leading a team of real estate professionals who deliver a range of comprehensive financial solutions for a broad array of clients, including the real estate development and investment sector.

Goldman Sachs agreed to pay more than half a billion dollars to settle federal charges that it misled investors to sink money into a product backed by dicey subprime mortgages just as the housing market was beginning to collapse. The SEC is touting the settlement as its largest-ever penalty against a Wall Street firm. Goldman has acknowledged that the marketing materials for the investment product contained incomplete information and says it will tighten up internal controls to ensure future disclosures on mortgage offerings are accurate.

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been hit with a lawsuit by California Attorney General Jerry Brown. He's suing the GSEs and their regulator for refusing to support the Property Assessed Clean Energy program, or PACE, for homeowners to make energy improvements to their properties. The GSEs argue the program does not ensure borrowers can repay the money and makes the first mortgage lien subordinate to the PACE loan. But Brown says their assessment of PACE funding as a loan is wrong.

Delinquency rates for residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) were mixed in June. According to Fitch Ratings, U.S. prime RMBS serious delinquencies rose for the 37th consecutive month. But during the same period, Alt-A RMBS delinquencies declined for the third consecutive month, and subprime late-pays fell for the fourth straight month.

The online real estate bidding site RealtyBid.com has partnered with the special assets group of national commercial real estate broker, Marcus & Millichap, to develop CommercialBid.com--an online bidding site specifically for commercial real estate assets. The new Web site officially launched July 1, 2010 with the unveiling of a special bidding event offering commercial property and commercial loans valued at more than $60 million.

The Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) guaranteed more than $33.4 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in June. Total single-family issuance for March was more than $32.4 billion. Ginnie Mae II single-family pools totaled nearly $20.1 billion, and Ginnie Mae I single-family pools came in at $12.3 billion. In addition, the association's multifamily MBS issuance was just over $1 billion.