Finance
Mortgage Banking
Ginnie Mae Issues $43B in MBS in June
Jul 14, 2009
The Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) issued more than $43 billion in mortgage-backed securities in June, marking the first time the agency has broken the $40 billion barrier in a single month. For the first six months of calendar year 2009, Ginnie Mae provided nearly $207 billion of liquidity to the secondary market, compared to nearly $107 billion for the first six months of 2008.
Ginnie Mae I single-family pools led the way with more than $29 billion in MBS issuance, while Ginnie Mae II single-family pools totaled nearly $14 billion. Total single-family issuance for May was more than $43 billion. Ginnie Mae's multifamily MBS issuance was $584 million.
Ginnie Mae is a wholly-owned government corporation within the Department of Housing and Urban Development that has provided mortgage guarantees since 1971
Recent Mortgage Banking Headlines
Economic Update - Four More Years for Bernanke?
Jul 27, 2009
Economist Nouriel Roubini, also known as Dr. Gloom (or is it Dr. Doom?)
for his voice-in-the-wilderness prediction of the soon-to-pop bubble
back during the bubble's expansion phase, opined in the New York Times
on Sunday that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke deserves another
term after his current one expires in January, crediting him with
"decisions [that] prevented the Great Recession of 2008-2009 from
turning into the Great Depression 2.0."
Economic Update - Loan Delinquencies Edge Ever Upward
Jul 08, 2009
It's an age of loan delinquency. According to a report released Tuesday
by the American Bankers Association, delinquencies on consumer debt --
those debt holders more than 30 days late -- stood at a record 3.23
percent during 1Q09. That's only up a little from 4Q08, yet still the
highest rate since the organization began tracking such things in 1974.
Economic Update - Foreclosures Spike Among Prime-Mortgage Holders
May 29, 2009
The tsunami of residential foreclosures may have started, back in the
days of easy mortgage money, with borrowers whose only qualification
was being able to fog a mirror. About half of those kinds of subprime
mortgages have resulted in a foreclosure outcome, and Alt-A-inspired
foreclosures are spiking too. But now, according to the Mortgage
Bankers Association, foreclosures on prime fixed-rate loans represent
the largest share of brand-new foreclosures.
Economic Update - Spooked by Economy, Consumers Consume Less
May 14, 2009
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that retail sales dropped by 0.4 percent in April, compared with the previous month. The decline was a little more than expected, but less than the revised March drop of 1.3 percent. The recent two months of decline followed unexpected increases in consumer spending in January and February.
Economic Update - Mortgage Rate Worries Weigh on Housing Market
Jun 01, 2009
General Motors was in the news over the weekend before the largest
bankruptcy in U.S. history (that is, its own), but more worrying for
many policymakers, economists and ordinary borrowers is last week's
sudden spike in mortgage interest rates.
With Pool of Distressed Assets on the Rise, A10 Kicks Off $100M Lending Program
May 11, 2009
The number of distressed assets continues to grow and lenders across
the country have been debuting new programs and establishing funds to
provide loans for owners and buyers of these troubled assets in a
climate where securing financing has become a monumental challenge.
Now, Boise, Idaho-based A10 Capital has jumped on the bandwagon with
$100 million in capital for the origination of first mortgage
commercial real estate loans and the supplying of financing for
commercial real estate-secured distressed debt acquisitions through its
new Lending Group.
Economic Update - Smaller Banks Face CRE Woes
May 07, 2009
On Wednesday, the eve of the stress test results, observers were
wondering just how much trouble sour commercial real estate loans are
going to cause those banks that hold them. Knee deep, waist deep, or up
to their eyeballs?
Economic Update - Panning for Gold in CRE Debt
Jul 22, 2009
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, high oracle of the U.S. economy,
began two days of testimony before Congress on Tuesday, and said that
things will slowly get better, eventually. He also noted that he and
his banking brethren are watching developments in the commercial real
estate industry--that ticking time bomb--with all the attention that a
ticking time bomb deserves. Meanwhile, down in the trenches, there's a
gold rush of sorts going on to find profits in real estate debt.
Economic Update - Recovery or Continued Slowdown?
Jun 17, 2009
Is the economy picking up or continuing to struggle? It seems to depend upon who you talk to and when you talk to them. While many reports gave a variety of accounts Tuesday, most supported bets that the pace of the recession is slowing.
CMBS Sector Sees Jump in Special Servicing Loans
May 04, 2009
CMBS loan delinquencies and defaults are pushing up special servicing
volume at a blistering pace, according to a pair of first-quarter
updates published last week by Fitch Ratings.
Economic Update - Could Be Worse, Says Fed
Jul 30, 2009
The latest Beige Book from the Federal Reserve is out, and the
message is that the economy is still fairly bad, but not quite as bad
as it was, or could be. Employers are still laying workers off, but not
as quickly as before. Lenders are still reluctant to lend and borrowers
are still reluctant to borrow. but there's a modicum of activity.
Regarding real estate, some member banks--Atlanta, Cleveland, San
Francisco--reported rising real estate loan delinquencies.
Economic Update - MIT/CRE Index Takes Hit in 2Q09
Aug 05, 2009
Commercial real estate took a drubbing in the second quarter, according
to Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Real Estate, whose
index tracking commercial properties sold by institutional investors
dropped 18.1 percent during 2Q09. The index is down 32 percent from the
end of 2Q08, and 39 percent from its mid-2007 (that is, bubble) peak.
Economic Update - Housing Treads on the Bottom?
Jul 24, 2009
Could spring 2009 have been the housing bottom everyone has beenwaiting for since the pop of the bubble? Residential real estatespecialists hope so. According to the National Association of Realtors,U.S. existing home sales were up 3.6 percent in June to an annualizedrate of 4.89 million. That's more than economists were predicting, andthe most since October 2008.
Economic Update - Housing Reports See Short-Term Funk, Long-Term Hope
Jun 23, 2009
The residential refinancing boom that budded so promisingly in the spring has wilted, according to the latest predictions by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Back in March, the organization predicted refi activity to the tune of about $2.75 trillion nationwide by the end of 2009, spurred by historically low interest rates. Now that those low rates have evaporated, MBA says that total originations for the year will probably come in just above $2 trillion.
M-F Mortgage Delinquencies Increase in Q1, Says MBA
Jun 03, 2009
The weakening economy and continued credit crunch led to increases incommercial/multifamily mortgage delinquencies during the first quarter of 2009, according to the latest Commercial/Multifamily DelinquencyReport, released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Economic Update - Home Sellers, Appraisers Quarrel Over Valuations
Jul 06, 2009
Writing in the Wall Street Journal late last week, Stan
Liebowitz noted that "the evidence from a huge national database
containing millions of individual loans strongly suggests that the
single most important factor [in foreclosures] is whether the homeowner
has negative equity in a house..." Blaming subprime mortgage lending
for the current housing crisis, he asserted, misses the point.
Ginnie Mae Issues $43B in MBS in June
Jul 14, 2009
The Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) issued more
than $43 billion in mortgage-backed securities in June, marking the
first time the agency has broken the $40 billion barrier in a single
month.
Philly Shopping Center Lands $17M in Financing
Jun 24, 2009
The New Jersey office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. has secured $17
million in financing for Columbus Crossing, a 142,000-square-foot,
grocery-anchored shopping center in Philadelphia.
As Condo Market Remains Tight, Miami Tower Scores Key Fannie Approval
May 27, 2009
In the midst of the sluggish economy and tight credit market, condominium developers are having a tough time selling units. As a result, many projects across the nation have been reverted to rental or stalled outright. But in the midst of one of the most hard-hit condo markets--South Florida--at least one developer is breathing a bit easier.
M-F Mortgage Delinquencies Increase in Q1, Says MBA
Jun 03, 2009
The weakening economy and continued credit crunch led to increases incommercial/multifamily mortgage delinquencies during the first quarterof 2009, according to the latest Commercial/Multifamily DelinquencyReport, released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Economic Update - New Home Sales See Uptick
Jul 28, 2009
New single-family home sales recorded an uptick in June, increasing 11
percent compared with May, to an annualized rate of 384,000. It looks
like a little pent-up demand for new homes is being unleashed,
especially since prices are still falling. The Commerce Department also
reported that the median price for a new house stood at $206,200 in
June, down 12 percent from last June.
Economic Update - Fed Paying Attention to CRE Time Bomb
Jul 23, 2009
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, wrapping up two days of
testimony to Congress on Wednesday, talked about a number of weighty
economic issues, including concerns about commercial real estate. The
ticking time bomb analogy didn't come up--pundits talk that way, not
central bankers--but the commercial real estate debt problem
nevertheless got a fair amount of attention.
Stimulus Programs, Financial Market Intervention to Benefit CRE--But Not Right Away
May 19, 2009
The government's pumping up of the economy via various programs created by the nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package and interceding in the financial market will indirectly incite the revival of the commercial real estate market, according to a new report by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. But the major impact is unlikely to be felt this year.
MBA: Outstanding Mortgage Debt Remains Unchanged in First Quarter
Jun 19, 2009
The level of commercial mortgage debt outstanding remained relatively unchanged in the first quarter, at $3.48 trillion, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association analysis of the Federal Reserve Board Flow of Funds data. The $3.48 trillion in commercial/multi-family mortgage debt outstanding recorded by the Federal Reserve was a decrease of $33 million from the fourth quarter of 2008. Multi-family mortgage debt outstanding grew to $908 billion, an increase of $5 billion, or 0.6 percent from the fourth quarter.
With Fannie, Freddie Still Active, DC-Area Portfolio Fetches $79M in Financing
Jun 30, 2009
Throughout the credit crisis and their own internal financial trials,government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have continued to steadily dole out loans in the multi-family market, and The Cafritz Cos. is among the latest firms to take advantage of the entities' willingness to lend. Cafritz has just secured $79.2million in permanent financing for a five-property portfolio in Metropolitan Washington, D.C., relying on Fannie Mae's multi-family lending programthrough M&T Realty Capital Corp.
Economic Update - CRE Still Faces Stress, Distress
Jun 26, 2009
Not-quite-so-bad news still passes for good news: the U.S. Department
of Commerce has revised its estimate of the annualized contraction of
the American economy in the first quarter of 2009 to 5.5 percent,
instead of the 5.7 percent previously estimated. Still, paired with the
4Q08 annualized contraction of 6.3 percent, the six months between last
October and this March represent the poorest economic performance for
the U.S. economy in over a half century.
CRE Mortgage Starts Plummeted in '08: MBA
Jun 05, 2009
After seeing phenomenal commercial mortgage originations in 2006 and 2007, figures from 2008 show a 65 percent decrease in volume, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's 2008 commercial real estate/multi-family finance report.
Economic Update - Deutsche Bank Offers Grim View of U.S. Mortgages
Aug 07, 2009
Like a trailer for a monster movie, a new report by Deutsche Bank is promising scary things in the not-too-distant future. Assuming that housing prices continue a decline, the percentage of underwater mortgages might rise to 48 percent of the total, or roughly 25 million loans, by the first quarter of 2011. The bank is predicting that U.S. home prices will decline a further 14 percent from current prices by the first quarter of 2011.
Economic Update - CRE Defaults Head for High Ground
Jun 10, 2009
A new report by Real Estate Econometrics, based on FDIC data, puts thecommercial real estate loan default rate at its highest level in morethan a decade and a half, at least those loans held by regulateddeposit-taking institutions—banks and thrifts, for the most part. Thedefault rate soared from 1.62 percent in the last quarter of 2008 to2.25 percent in the first quarter of 2009. That rate doesn’t includedefaults on loans associated with multi-family rental properties, whichReal Estate Econometrics put at 2.45 percent in the first quarter of2009, up 68 basis points from the previous quarter.
Economic Update - Disney Weighs in on the Economy
Jul 31, 2009
Is Disney a major lagging indicator for the U.S. economy? Maybe. In any
case, Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger sounded like a central banker on
Thursday during the company's second-quarter conference call: "We do
see signs of economic stabilization, but the pace and strength of
recovery remain uncertain, and we are managing accordingly," he said.
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