Moreover, during the quarter, the REIT joined the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.

After a seven-year hiatus, Silver Hill Funding this month re-entered the market for small-balance commercial mortgages, rolling out a menu catering to borrowers that are looking to buy multifamily properties, as well as office, retail, light industrial, self-storage and mixed use. Under its initial program, it will extend credit to both investors and owner-occupants ranging from $250,000 to $1 million as the nonbank attempts to serve a niche that it believes is ignored by ...

Mortgage real estate investments trusts might get more active in the credit risk transfer activity of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-CA, this week seemed to secure a commitment from Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White to help facilitate such greater involvement. “What we’ve been trying to do … is to take a strong interest in housing finance reform and see how we can move forward ...

The second whole-loan securities risk-transfer transaction from Freddie Mac received a rating from Moody’s Investors Service. The rating service said the $634.64 million deal included a number of improvements compared with non-agency MBS, which have a similar structure. Much like non-agency MBS, the deal was backed by mortgages and included senior and subor-dinate tranches available for purchase by investors. The M1 tranche of FWLS 2015-SC02 ...

A proposal from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to establish margin requirements for the to-be-announced MBS market was met with strong opposition from industry participants. While FINRA made some concessions to the industry in the proposal issued in October, many MBS traders warned of dire consequences if the proposed margin requirements take effect. The proposal from FINRA included a number of provisions, such as a 2.0 percent “maintenance” margin ...

FINRA made some concessions to the industry in the proposal issued in October, but many MBS traders warned of dire consequences if the proposed margin requirements take effect.

Commercial banks and savings institutions held a record $1.608 trillion of single-family MBS in portfolio as of the end of the third quarter, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of call-report data. Banks and thrifts boosted their MBS holdings by 1.6 percent from the end of June, reaching a third consecutive record level. The gain pushed the industry’s market share of single-family MBS to an estimated 25.2 percent. Commercial banks were responsible for ... [Includes two data charts]

Bank of America grew its MBS holdings by a stunning 22.7 percent in the third quarter, according to Inside MBS & ABS.

Industry groups view recently-issued temporary guidelines for approving condominium projects for FHA finance as limited but positive, with the hope that other issues can be addressed in a more comprehensive rulemaking. Announced on Nov. 13, the interim guidelines took effect immediately and will remain for one year to give FHA sufficient time to implement more comprehensive condo rule changes. They include certain changes to the current lengthy and complex ...

As the housing market witnessed its best year yet in terms of recovering from the financial crisis, reports are pointing to continued progress in 2016, albeit at a slower pace. Pent-up demand coupled with sustained job growth and rising home values encouraged homeowners to put their homes on the market, a trend that Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, said he expects to continue into 2016. “Sales activity in 2016 will once again be ...