Amhert's planned acquisition of Front Yard was announced weeks before the financial impact of the coronavirus was apparent.

The flows into commercial MBS of loans backed by office properties, retail facilities, hotels, apartments and industrial properties were all down sharply from the fourth quarter, a victim of the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In fact,” said GSE regulator Mark Calabria, “if this goes on for more than two months, we’re going to be looking at stress for Fannie and Freddie"...

Increasingly, margin calls are becoming an issue for mortgage REITs...

Bottom line: The Fed will keep buying agency MBS as long as it has to...

When the deal closes, Amherst will control 36,000 SFR units...

The office market, which accounted for 26.2% of nonagency CMBS collateral last year, posted a 44.7% increase from 2018.

The $533.5 million issuance will be the largest post-crisis non-agency MBS backed by mortgages for investment properties.

Professionals familiar with the product say investment-property loans underwritten using debt service coverage ratios are easier to underwrite than mortgages made to self-employed borrowers using bank statements...

REIT CEO Ivan Kaufman said Arbor developed the program in response to concerns that the Federal Housing Finance Agency was going to reduce the cap on how much multifamily volume the GSEs are allowed to acquire…