News

The aggregate value of DebtX-priced commercial real estate loans that collateralize commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) jumped to 76.4 percent as of April 30, 2010, up from 75.9 percent the month prior. Kingsley Greenland, CEO of DebtX, said the increase in U.S. CMBS collateral prices was the result of tightening credit spreads and a flattening of the Treasury yield curve.

In a near unanimous vote of 406 to 4 Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill intended to replenish the coffers of the federal agency that insures mortgages against default. The legislation grants the Federal Housing Administration the authority to nearly triple borrowers' annual premium cap, from the current rate of 0.55 percent, to as high as 1.50 percent. The federal mortgage insurer says this will generate an estimated $300 million a month in additional receipts, while costing the average FHA borrower $42 more in monthly premiums.

If one were to rely solely on the headlines, you might be inclined to think that all mortgage-holders whose loans are underwater are planning on throwing in the towel and allowing the property to go into foreclosure. Admittedly, some do intentionally plan a strategic default. However, new data from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling demonstrate consumers' desires to stay in their homes, with less than one-fourth of respondents in agreement that mortgage default is justifiable simply because the property is underwater.

Keystone Asset Management Inc. has relocated to a new corporate facility and is launching a brand new image campaign as part of its growth and strategic development. As a national provider of REO outsourcing, default management and property valuation services, the company says it is affirming its commitment to the default industry with the purchase of a new office building in Colmar, Pennsylvania, aimed at increasing workplace efficiencies and featuring client-based processing stations.

Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States, recently announced that it will start to incorporate the new Collateral Valuation Report (CVR) into its product pipeline for lending solutions. As part of this product incorporation, Forsythe Appraisals, LLC, an independent provider of residential real estate appraisals, and Valocity, LLC, a nationwide valuations provider, have been selected by U.S. Bank to provide the new CVR appraisal report on a nationwide basis.

The journey downward has begun again. After remaining relatively steady last week, mortgage rates this week hit new lows, as indicated by industry reports released Thursday. Freddie Mac says 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are now averaging 4.72 percent. The GSE's chief economist, Frank Nothaft, explained that bond yields headed lower this week following the relatively weak employment report, and mortgage rates followed.

Condo Terminators, a specialty consulting group of Morningside Mortgage Corporation, in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, has completed the filing process for what the company says is Florida's first mass short sale of a failed condominium conversion. The company says this project is expected to lead a wave of ""condominium terminations,"" resulting in mass short sales of failed condominiums and reversions to apartment buildings.

Foreclosure activity dropped 3 percent from April to May, according to new data from RealtyTrac. It's the second month in a row the company has recorded a decline. In May, a total of 322,920 properties received a foreclosure filing. That figure equates to one in every 400 U.S. housing units. RealtyTrac says the data confirms that foreclosure activity is leveling off, even as lenders work through the big backlog of forestalled foreclosures and delayed repossessions that have built up over the past two years.

IndiSoft, LLC, a Columbia, Maryland-based technology developer focusing its efforts on the default service management industry, announced Wednesday that more than 18 million transactions have been processed through its RxOffice platform since 2008. In addition the company announced that it is in line to receive third-party certification from Microsoft, which will validate the platform's security and scalability.

The collapse of the housing market and the sharp rise in unemployment have caused the U.S. homeownership rate to fall to 67.2 percent -- essentially a reversion to the level of 10 years ago. A new report by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York warns that the rate is likely to drop even lower, as homeowners with negative equity decide the benefits of renting outweigh the costs of homeownership.