Secondary Market

The aggregate value of Commercial Real Estate (CRE) loans increased to 88.1 percent as of April 30, 2012 from 87.3 percent as of the end of March and from 80.9 percent as of April 30, 2011, according to DebtX. The increase in April marks the fourth straight month CRE loan values rose.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) gave back its entire March increase in April, falling to 95.5 from 101.1 one month earlier, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The March index was revised downward from the originally reported 101.4 adding to the gloomy report. Economist had expected the index to increase 0.5 percent from March.Even with the decline though, the index is up 14.4 percent since April 2011, but is now at its lowest level since December, dampening expectations at the onset of the home-buying season.

The Case Shiller Home Price Indexes fell for the seventh straight month in March. The drop in the broader 20-city index was barely noticeable - down to 134.10 from 134.14 in February - while the 10-city index fell to 146.61 from 146.74. Year-over-year, the 10-city index was down 2.8 percent and the 20-city index off 2.6 percent, improving from February. The national Case Shiller Index, reported quarterly, was down 2.0 percent in the first quarter and down 1.9 percent from the first quarter of 2011. All three composites posted the lowest levels since mid-2006 when the housing crises began.

With the hope that whistleblowers will sound their horn, the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) Working Group launched website for insiders to report fraud, the Justice Department announced in a statement. The RMBS Working Group was created in late January 2012 to investigate abuses and fraud in the RMBS market that only exacerbated the financial crises. While still a fairly new group, the unit has been criticized for its slow progress.

New homes sales rose 3.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000, the Commerce Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported jointly Wednesday (May 23). Sales for March were revised upward from 328,000 to 332,000. Sales for March were revised upward from 328,000 to 332,000. Economists had expected the report to show a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 335,000 for new home sales in April. New home sales in April were up 9.9 percent from April 2011, the seventh straight month of year-over-year increases.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced Tuesday that it has fined Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., $3.5 million for providing inaccurate mortgage perform information, among other violations. This inaccurate data may have led investors to make faulty decisions, FINRA said. FINRA found that Citigroup posted inaccurate mortgage performance data on its website from January 2006 to October 2007. This information stayed up until May 2012 despite reason to believe the data might not be accurate. Citigroup was informed several times that the posted information was faulty, but it did not fix the problem until May this year.

Existing-home sales rose to 4.62 million (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) in April from an downwardly revised March rate of 4.47 million, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Tuesday. Economists had forecast the April sales pace would be 4.66 million. The median price of an existing home climbed 10.1 percent to $177,400 from $161,100 in April 2011, the strongest year-to-year gain since January 2006. The median price in April reached its highest level since July 2010 when it was $182,100. The median price of an existing home rose month-to-month and year-to-year in all four regions.

MGIC Investment Corporation announced Thursday that its Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation subsidiary filed a lawsuit against Freddie Mac and its conservator, FHFA. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the dispute is in regards to a disagreement over aggregate loss limit under certain pool insurance policies.

After suffering from bad loans during the financial crisis, Ally Financial looks to close the books on its share of ownership in the mortgage business. Executives with Ally took to the phone with investors Tuesday to explain a filing for bankruptcy protection Monday by subsidiary Residential Capital LLC. The consensus: Residential mortgage loans are out for Ally and auto finance is back in the center. Ally will still subservice loans via ResCap while it serves as counterparty to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

With vacant homes stretching the capacity of banks' balance sheets and homebuyer demand lackluster at best, short sales are becoming a top loss mitigation choice for private lenders and investors, particularly in especially hard-hit markets. According to Barclays Capital, the benefits of pursuing a short sale are compelling for servicers and investors who are able to liquidate delinquent loans in an expedited fashion with fewer payment and interest (P&I) advances and who take ""quasi"" possession of the property in better condition and at better prices than REO, lowering severities.