Secondary Market

Google Analytics and comScore report that LoopNet, Inc., a San Francisco-based operator of one of the largest commercial real estate marketplace sites on the Web, hit an all-time high in visitor traffic in the third quarter of 2010 with more than 6.2 million unique visitors. comScore Media Metrics, which provides comparative site traffic numbers, says LoopNet also reached a new high in terms of traffic relative to other commercial real estate sites, generating 9.4 times the traffic of its nearest competitor for the first nine months of 2010.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have both issued notices to servicers that they must work closely with state housing finance agencies to provide mortgage assistance to homeowners who've lost their jobs. Treasury awarded $7.6 billion for housing agencies in certain states to develop programs that provide temporary relief to unemployed homeowners. Effective immediately, GSE servicers are instructed to accept all monthly mortgage payments from housing finance agencies on behalf of borrowers enrolled in state-specific programs.

While most loans held in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) that transfer to special servicing are driven by borrowers looking to prevent future defaults, some recent transfers are showing something else entirely - opportunistic borrowers looking to capitalize on current market conditions, according to Fitch Ratings. The majority of special servicing transfers are classified as imminent default, but this is a ""catch-all"" label. Fitch has been monitoring the market in light of this fact and says some of the results are surprising.

Lenders cannot proceed with foreclosure sales in the District of Columbia unless the security, or ownership, interest of the lien holder has been properly recorded in public filings, according to Washington, D.C.'s attorney general. Under District law, each deed or other document transferring a mortgage interest must be filed with the Recorder of Deeds within 30 days of execution, and Attorney General Peter Nickles stressed that this requirement is not satisfied by private tracking through the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems(MERS).

State and federal regulators stepped in to shut down the operations of seven financial institutions over the weekend -- two in Florida, two in Georgia, and one each in Illinois, Kansas, and Arizona. This latest round of closings brings the FDIC's failed-bank tally for the year to 139. In all of 2009, the FDIC counted 140 bank failures. With two months left in 2010, this year is on pace to be the worst for institutional closings since the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s.

MountainView Capital Holdings, a provider of financial services for institutions participating in the mortgage and fixed income capital markets, has announced the formation of MountainView Portfolio Analytics, a business unit specializing in valuation of residential whole loans, securitized loans, and REO. The company has been providing valuation services for over 20 years but says it decided to create a separate business unit due to increased market demand.

Taxpayers' bill for keeping the nation's two largest mortgage firms afloat could more than double between now and 2013, according to the companies' regulator. To date, Fannie and Freddie have drawn $148 billion from the Treasury since they were placed under government control in September 2008. The two GSEs' could need another $73 billion to $215 billion to maintain positive net worth over the next three years. In a worst-case scenario, the overall tab for keeping Fannie and Freddie in business will reach $363 billion.

Analytics provider FICO recently announced that Experian Capital Markets is adding FICO credit scores to its CreditHorizons for Securities solution. Sellers and investors of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) use Experian's CreditHorizons for Securities to surmount the limitations of loan-level data when analyzing credit risk in potential bond investments. FICO says the addition of the FICO score will give securities managers, marketers, and investors deeper insight into the creditworthiness of underlying mortgages in loan pools.

Bank of America said Tuesday that it lost $7.3 billion during the three-month period ending in September. The company attributed the deficit to new financial reform regulations related to credit and debit card payments. On the mortgage side of its business, though, the company is seeing improvements. Mortgage banking income jumped 95 percent last quarter, the ratio of nonperforming loans and assets declined, and no sizeable losses are expected from the company's foreclosure suspension and affidavit problems.

Hearing declarations that recovery has taken hold in the commercial real estate sector, with property values and fundamentals on the upswing? Not just yet. Commercial real estate prices have slipped again and are now the lowest they've been since the beginning of the market downturn, according to new data released Tuesday by Moody's Investors Service. In August, the agency's property price index recorded a 3.3 percent drop, as prices fell below the previous low hit in October 2009.