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Tag Archives: DBRS

DBRS Warns of Threats to the Home Price Recovery

Home prices may appear to be in recovery mode, but they haven't reached bottom yet and probably won't until sometime in 2014, according to a report from DBRS. Although the rating agency acknowledged positive housing trends in 2012, such as signs of recovery for home prices, decreasing delinquencies, and more prime jumbo securitizations, DBRS still stated it ""believes that the housing market will remain under pressure in the foreseeable future.""

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Ratings Agency Forecasts a Stronger Year for Short Sales in 2013

Even though the number of foreclosure filings has risen dramatically in recent months in some parts of the country--specifically in judicial states--the ratings agency DBRS expects the total number of foreclosure filings to show evidence of a steady decline in 2013 when compared to 2012. This is due to ""the record number of servicers that are using short sales as their primary loss mitigation tool to prevent delinquent loans from entering foreclosure,"" the agency's analysts said in a research note issued Monday.

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Clayton Holdings Approved as Due Diligence Firm

Clayton Holdings has been approved by DBRS as a third-party due diligence firm for residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) securitizations. Based in New York, DBRS is a provider of credit rating opinions that offer insight and transparency across a broad range of financial institutions, corporate entities, government bodies, and various structured finance product groups.

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DBRS Expects a Year of Reform for Mortgage Servicing

The ratings agency DBRS says mortgage servicers are going to continue to see ""much needed reform"" in 2012 as the industry moves to standardize the servicing business. The first go at such standardization will center around implementing the directives of regulators' consent orders, according to DBRS. The agency does expect the U.S. government to institute some of the REO programs currently being vetted, but doesn't foresee any tangible benefits in terms of loss recoveries until 2013.

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Study: Less Than 3% of Mortgage Mods Involve Principal Reductions

The ratings agency DBRS made principal reductions the focus of a research note released Monday. The firm's analysts stressed that as a modification technique, debt forgiveness has long been regarded as controversial in the mortgage industry due to its moral hazard risk and the potential impact it could have on the performance of securitized mortgages. As such, it's been utilized on a very limited basis. Based on first-quarter data, DBRS found that principal reduction modifications accounted for 2.80 percent of the total mods performed.

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Mortgage Cram-Downs by Bankruptcy Judges Are Taking Place: DBRS

The research firm and ratings agency DBRS says it has learned from various servicers that although Congress never authorized bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages on primary residences, these ""cram-downs,"" as they have been termed, are currently being performed in some courts. The agency's analysts say the amount of the cram-down varies by state, property value, and borrower situation but usually includes a reduction in the principal amount of the loan to fair market value.

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DBRS Structured Finance Group Hires New SVP

DBRS, a provider of credit rating opinions across a range of financial institutions, corporate entities, government bodies, and various structured finance product groups, has hired Richard Carlson as an SVP within the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) group. Carlson will focus on operational risk reviews for CMBS ratings, including servicer evaluations and originator reviews globally.

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Gains in Private Sector Employment an Encouraging Sign for Industry

The unemployment rate, while still languishing at a discouraging 9.4 percent, has seen improvement in recent months that is encouraging for many sectors of the industry. The rating agency DBRS says layoffs and discharges in the private job sector have stayed down, helping to reduce early delinquencies in consumer and mortgage credit. This, coupled with government-sponsored programs aiming to help homeowners out of work, paints a tentatively positive picture for the recovery.

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Paperwork Missteps to Prolong Foreclosure Crisis in Certain States

Three major mortgage lenders have halted foreclosures in states where the process is handled through the court system after suspicions surfaced that employees did not follow legal procedures in preparing the required documentation. These paperwork problems are widely expected to draw out the already devastating foreclosure crisis in the affected areas. We've dug a little deeper to provide a list of the states where judicial foreclosures are the standard and that are most likely impacted by the foreclosure suspensions announced.

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