News

Moody's Analytics, the risk management and research arm of New York-based Moody's Corporation, said Wednesday that it has acquired full ownership ofCommercial Mortgage Metrics (CMM) from CBRE Econometrics Advisors. CCM is an analytical model for assessing default and recovery risk for commercial real estate (CRE).

Although short sales are likely to increase in 2010, the jump in these transactions is unlikely to have any real impact on the housing market, according to a new study by Housing Predictor. While more at-risk homeowners are turning to short sales as an alternative to foreclosure, Housing Predictor says the small number of short sales that are actually approved by banks represent less than 1 percent of all homes facing foreclosure.

After rising steadily just before the end of last year in what some feared was the start of a continuing upward trend, interest rates on home loans have dropped for three consecutive weeks in January, according to reports from both Freddie Mac and Bankrate Thursday.

Res.Net, a comprehensive workflow management system, recently chose Providence, Rhode Island-based Lincoln Appraisal & Settlement Services to become an approved broker price opinion (BPO) and appraisal business partner.

Superior Home Services has announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters to a new site in Scottsdale, Arizona. The location is part of the new Scottsdale Quarter development opened last year.

In public remarks Thursday, President Obama said he wants to give federal regulators the power to restrict the size of the nation's largest financial institutions and the scope of their risk-taking ventures, such as investing in hedge funds. The phrase that became vogue at the onset of the financial crisis when Washington was crafting its bailout policies too big to fail has become a sticky cliche begrudged by Main Street taxpayers and lawmakers alike.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) said Wednesday that it is raising homebuyers' up-front costs for mortgage insurance, tripling downpayment requirements for borrowers with low credit scores, and cutting seller concessions in half. The agency says the new policies will help it better manage loan risk and losses. According to FHA's latest monthly activity report, nearly 9 percent of the single-family mortgages it insures against default are at least 90 days past due.

For the week ending January 15, 2010, mortgage rates fell even lower, and as a result, the volume of mortgage loan applications increased, according to the Weekly Mortgage Application Survey released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, jumped 9.

Capmark Investments, a unit of bankrupt commercial real estate lender Capmark Financial has itself filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The move is expected to help facilitate a sale of Capmark Investment's management contracts and interests in real estate equity funds, for which it has already found a buyer.

Investment manager BlackRock, Inc. said Tuesday that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Helix Financial Group, a boutique commercial real estate firm that offers advisory and asset valuation services to lenders and investors.