A proposal from a former high-ranking official at S&P Global Ratings to reduce incentives for rating shopping has been met with skepticism and resistance from officials at other rating services. Howard Esaki, the former global head of securitization research at S&P Global Ratings, and Lawrence White, a professor of economics, NYU Stern School of Business, recently published a proposal to reform the process for how rating services are selected to grade MBS and ABS. They said...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily lending is booming and hit a record high in 2016, but how long will that streak last? Some say the supply and demand dynamics are changing as developers rushed to build to meet a growing demand that may be leveling off some this year.Fannie ended last year having provided $55.3 billion in financing and support of the multifamily market. In 2016, Freddie financed $56.8 billion in loan purchases and bond guarantees. “Credit performance of the book of business was strong in 2016. The number of multifamily foreclosed properties held for sale remained low at 13 properties as of December 31, 2016,” reported Fannie.

Tricon Capital Group’s recent announcement that it plans to buy single-family rental operator Silver Bay Realty Trust for $1.4 billion in cash is a potential sign that this thriving sector could be in for a round of consolidation. Once the deal is completed, the combined SFR company will have 16,800 homes in its stable of rentals – 9,000 coming from Silver Bay and 7,800 coming from Tricon American Homes, the U.S. residential division of the Toronto-based TCG. Among SFR operators, TAH/SBRT will rank...

As Democrats in Congress worked on reforms after the financial crisis, issuers of MBS and ABS repeatedly warned that regulatory uncertainty would hurt the market. With Republicans now looking to roll back parts of the Dodd-Frank Act, industry participants are pushing for risk-retention requirements to remain in place, again citing the potential impact of regulatory uncertainty. “It’s foolish to think that we would try to tear it all down,” said Howard Kaplan, a partner at the law firm of Deloitte & Touche, during this week’s SFIG Vegas conference. Among many other changes, the CHOICE Act from Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, would repeal...

Altisource Residential said its goal is to build a large portfolio of SFRs “targeted to operate at a best-in-class yield.”

Freddie Mac has yet to enter the SFR market in any significant way, but may soon, its CEO told IMFnews recently…

Freddie Mac reported a net income of $4.85 billion in the fourth quarter, more than double its earnings from the previous quarter and lifting its full-year income to $7.82 billion. The government-sponsored enterprise released its earnings this week, posting one of its best profits ever in the fourth quarter. Net income for the quarter was fueled in part by gains on derivatives which amounted to $6.38 billion. “Interest rates went up an unusually large amount in the fourth quarter, therefore you saw an unusually large gain in the accounting,” Freddie CEO Donald Layton told Inside MBS & ABS. Freddie also reported...

Risk-retention requirements for the majority of MBS and ABS sectors were in effect by the end of December, and industry participants have largely adjusted to them, according to analysts. The Dodd-Frank Act generally requires sponsors of ABS, non-agency MBS and commercial MBS to retain at least 5.0 percent of each deal. The retention requirements for residential mortgages took effect at the end of 2015, though most deals have been backed completely by qualified mortgages, which makes them exempt from risk retention. Other asset types have...

How bad is it? Since 2010, liquidations amounting to $3.89 billion led to $2.88 billion in CMBS losses, a 74.0 percent loss severity.

PFSI is forecasting that by the second half of 2017 it will be originating $40 million to $60 million per quarter in multifamily loans.