Secondary Market

Trepp, LLC, a provider of research and analytics for the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) market, announced Thursday that it has acquired Investcap Advisors, LLC. Investcap, a privately held company in Massachusetts, develops Web-based applications for U.S. CMBS loan and property surveillance. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The nation's economic recovery is on ""firmer footing"" with conditions in the labor market ""improving gradually,"" the Federal Reserve said Tuesday following its monetary policy meeting. The Fed's view of the economy was noticeably more upbeat, but that optimism stopped short when the discussion turned to housing. With property values still sliding, a ballooning foreclosure pipeline, and a shadow inventory of distressed REOs that experts say could take more than three years to clear, the Fed stated bluntly, ""the housing sector continues to be depressed.""

After 13 years of service, Amy Crews Cutts, Freddie Mac's deputy chief economist, has left the company to join IXI Corporation, a small subsidiary of Equifax that provides services to financial institutions and consumer marketing firms to help them target consumer households based on measures of wealth, income, spending, and credit.

Following last week's statement by Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan that principal reductions are unfair and not in everyone's best interest, more banks and even some attorneys general have spoken out against the controversial clause in the settlement proposal. Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf voiced his disapproval of principal write-downs, saying such provisions would entice people to default on their loans. Some attorneys generals said they feel write-downs would force servicers to break their contracts with investors.

The U.S. real estate market today offers a stronger investment opportunity than it has in the last 10 years, according to the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE). The association's 19th annual survey, highlighting trends in international real estate investment, reveals that nearly 65 percent of respondents indicate the United States offers the best potential for capital appreciation. That's 54 percentage points over second-ranked China.

According to Auction.com, investors and buyers spent $112.9 million on assets at five of its auction events for primarily non-performing commercial real estate and notes last month. The auction offerings included 155 assets within 34 states and drew 990 registered bidders. The company says its February results are a strong indication of investors' appetite for real estate.

Jones Lang LaSalle, a financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate, recently added three structured finance experts to its real estate investment banking (REIB) team. William Cavagnaro and Brion Haist joined as EVPs, and Jonathan Morris was hired as a managing director. Cavagmaro and Haist are responsible for advancing the firm's credit tenant lease (CTL) financing program. Morris will provide strategic advisory expertise to the firm's public and private real estate investment trust (REIT) clients.

Standard & Poor's, a provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research, and data, announced yesterday that Trepp clients now have access to S&P's CMBS research headlines via the Trepp platform. Trepp is a provider of CMBS and commercial mortgage information, analytics, and technology.

Denver-based Allonhill, an independent third-party review firm specializing in mortgage due diligence and credit risk management, recently appointed Mike Margolf managing director of government services. Margolf, who previously served as the firm's director of due diligence, now oversees day-to-day operations of Allonhill's public sector offerings and manages relationships with government clients.

Delinquencies on loans held in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) climbed to a new record high this past month, according to the latest index results from Fitch Ratings. But the company's analysts say the rising influx of new issuance bonds may help to stem future late-pay increases. The agency reports that late-pays rose 17 basis points to close out February at 8.76 percent. That surpasses the previous high-water mark reported by Fitch in September 2010 when the agency recorded a CMBS delinquency rate of 8.66 percent.