Bruce Witherell, a former top executive of Freddie Mac, has emerged as a key player in the new mortgage investing real estate investment trust being launched by Cerberus. Witherell, who was a chief operating officer at Freddie from 2009 to 2011, is chairman of Cerberus Mortgage Capital, a real estate investment trust that hopes to raise at least $150 million through an initial public offering. At Freddie, Witherell was in charge of day-to-day operations of three lines of business: single-family, multifamily and capital markets.

Although it’s well known that mortgage bankers earned record profits on loan production and secondary marketing last year, a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends reveals that mortgage servicing was also highly profitable for the industry’s top lenders. A diverse group of 10 top lenders reported a whopping $16.98 billion in net income from mortgage production and secondary marketing last year, after posting a combined loss of $5.79 billion in 2011. Massive repurchase expenses reported by ... [Includes one data chart]

It was thought that after the financial shellacking it took by purchasing GMAC Mortgage, that hedge fund giant Cerberus might avoid the residential finance industry entirely. But perish the thought. Cerberus this month filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering for Cerberus Mortgage Capital, a real estate investment trust that hopes to raise at least $150 million. Its goal: to use the money to buy a “broad range” of residential-related assets including ...

Real estate investment trusts focused on investing in agency mortgage-backed securities were called out last week by Federal Reserve Governor Jeremy Stein. Industry participants acknowledge the Fed’s concerns and suggest that agency REIT investment strategies will naturally shift as yields on the products have declined, among other factors. Stein warned of “overheating” markets and pointed to agency-focused mortgage REITs. “When I say that the market for a particular class of credit instruments ...

Low interest rates and improving fundamentals in the nation’s housing market appear to be driving renewed investor interest in residential mortgage loan participations, according to a market participant. Jim Cutillo, chief executive officer of Stonegate Mortgage, said the market for loan participations has grown so strong in the last few months that banks – Wall Street financial institutions as well as small and regional banks – are pursuing investment opportunities in the sector. “I think a lot ...

The ink is hardly dry on the final residential servicing regulations promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but mortgage bankers are already worrying about meeting the implementation date, which is less than 11 months away. But there is some good news. According to panelists speaking during an Inside Mortgage Finance webinar this week, it’s likely that the agency will extend the deadline beyond January 2014. Larry Platt, of K&L Gates, and Michael Waldron, of Ballard Spahr ...

Officials in the financial services sector are making a fresh push to alert the mortgage and residential mortgage-backed securities industries to the potential pitfalls that delinquent homeowner association accounts pose for them. “The securitization industry has little understanding” of homeowner and other types of community associations, collectively referred to as HOAs, said Jason Serrano, co-head of structured products and managing director for securities at Oak Hill Advisors ...

Average loan-to-value ratios and debt-to-income ratios on loans securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were slightly lower – and credit scores edged slightly higher – during the fourth quarter, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis. The average LTV ratio edged down from 78.53 percent in the third quarter to 77.54 percent in the final three months of 2012. The average DTI ratio declined slightly, from 31.92 percent to 31.88 percent, while the average ... [Includes one data chart]

Thanks, in part, to HARP loans private mortgage insurers in 2012 posted their best year since the financial market collapse back in 2008, according to new figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance.