News

Sales of previously-owned homes rose higher than expected in March, reversing a three-month slide. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said Thursday that existing-home sales jumped 6.8 percent to a 5.35 million-unit annual sales rate. Forty-four percent of last month's sales were attributed to first-time buyers racing to make the window for the homebuyer tax credit, but NAR still sees the March numbers as a signal of what will be a strong spring season and a broad home sales recovery.

While some are already touting improvements in the commercial real estate sector, Fitch Ratings is expecting widespread deterioration in commercial mortgage performance to rear its ugly head. In a special report issued Wednesday, the ratings agency warned that loan defaults will continue to escalate for U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). Fitch is projecting the default rate to rise another 4.4 percent in 2010, pushing the overall rate past 11 percent by the end of the year.

IndiSoft, LLC has enhanced its RxOffice platform to meet the new Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) request and income documentation requirements announced by the Treasury. Beginning June 1, HAMP servicers will be required to verify a borrower's income and gather all the necessary paperwork prior to initiating a trial mod period. Officials say this change will speed the pace of permanent mod conversions.

The FDIC has completed sales of $2 billion in notes backed by real estate loans seized from two big bank failures - Corus Bank in Chicago and Franklin Bank in Houston, Texas. According to the FDIC, the structured note sales - the first from the agency since the early 1990s - will increase recoveries for the two bank closings and return substantial funds to the deposit insurance fund, which has taken repeated hits with the elevated number of bank failures over the past two years.

Freddie Mac said Wednesday that its full menu of mortgage relief options is being extended to families whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the recent floods in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and West Virginia. Specifically, the mortgage giant is giving servicers the discretion to reduce or suspend mortgage payments for up to 12 months for borrowers with Freddie Mac-owned mortgages.

The Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) announced Tuesday that it guaranteed $22.7 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in March. Total single-family issuance for March was more than $22 billion. Ginnie Mae II single-family pools lead the way with nearly $14 billion in issuance, while Ginnie Mae I single-family pools totaled nearly $8 billion. In addition, Ginnie Mae's multifamily MBS issuance was nearly $828 million.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh (FHLBank Pittsburgh) recently announced that it is contributing $500,000 to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) to assist the agency in its foreclosure prevention efforts. This grant will allow PHFA to reach more homeowners under its Homeowners' Equity Recovery Opportunity (HERO) program, which aims to help borrowers not eligible for a traditional mortgage refinance product, due to credit issues or owing more on their home that its current appraised value.

The latest market report card from John Burns Real Estate Consulting (JBRC) puts housing very near the bottom of the class, with an overall grade of D+. Several factors played a role in the sub-par score. JBRC noted that two important stimulus programs have run their course - the Fed is done buying mortgages from the GSEs and elected officials have decided there will be no more tax credit extension. On top of that, recent loan mod revamps have cleared the way for servicers to increase their foreclosure activity, which will result in more distressed sales.

In a sign of stabilization in the U.S. real estate market, home price reductions levels in April 2010 plummeted 26 percent from the same month last year, San Francisco-based Trulia, Inc., reported Wednesday. According to the report, 20 percent of current home listings had been reduced at least once as of April 1, 2010, down from 27 percent in April 2009.

Private equity investment funds, in collaboration with the U.S. Treasury, have relieved the market of $10 billion in souring real estate assets, purchased through the federal government's Legacy Securities Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP). About 88 percent of the portfolio holdings, or $8.8 billion, are non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Twelve percent, or $1.2 billion, are commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). Of the RMBS assets, nearly half fall into the Alt-A loan category.