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Secondary Market

Clear Capital Announces Two Key Hires

Clear Capital, a provider of data and solutions for real estate asset valuation and risk assessment, has appointed Jennifer Feickert VP of community relations and Peter Heintz director of capital markets development. Feickert will focus on developing relationships with the company's network of real estate appraiser, broker, and agent partners and implementing initiatives toward servicing client needs. Heintz will represent Clear Capital in New York as the company's liaison to Wall Street and the capital markets.

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Administration’s Search for FHFA Head Begins Again

President Obama's nominee to take the role of Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director and lead the government's efforts to reform the housing finance system has pulled his name out of the running. Joseph A. Smith, Jr. has served as North Carolina's banking commissioner for the past eight years, and he was the White House's top pick to head the agency charged with overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

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Bad Commercial Real Estate Loans Push Four More Banks into Failure

State and federal regulators seized control of four more community-based lenders over the weekend - in Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. That brings the failed-bank tally to 11 for the year. Commercial real estate (CRE) woes remain front and center for failed banks, according to the analysts at Foresight Analytics. In fact, for 10 of the 11 banks that have been shut down since the beginning of the year, the company says CRE loans contributed more than half of the banks' nonperforming loans.

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Distressed Debt Investors Turning to Real Estate

A survey of 100 distressed debt investors found that this year many will increasingly devote their money to real estate. The survey polled investors from companies such as hedge funds, private equity firm, bank props or trading desks. The study showed that respondents allocated 26 percent of their investments to real estate in 2010, and plan to allocate 48 percent of their investments to real estate this year.

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Rural Communities in Virginia Facing Highest Rates of Foreclosure

A Virginia housing advocacy group released data this week that shows the housing circumstances in rural Virginia are arguably some of the direst in the nation. Key findings of the report say that the largest increase in foreclosure filings last year occurred in rural Virginia, easing only slightly when banks began moratoriums to review their foreclosure processes.

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CoreLogic Launches Commercial Real Estate Evaluation Service

CoreLogic has introduced a new commercial property evaluation service that utilizes more than 7,500 real estate brokers and contract appraisers to provide commercial valuations for lenders, investors, and special servicers. CoreLogic says its system allows users to quickly determine the current market rent for properties more cost effectively than formal commercial real estate appraisals. The new service can deliver a valuation in 10 business days on average, and users can order and track valuations online 24/7.

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MBA Sees 36% Falloff in Mortgage Production in 2011

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its market outlook to the media on Wednesday. The trade group's economists are expecting mortgage lending to shrink by 36 percent this year. They project originations -- including loans for home purchases and refinancing -- to total $966 billion in 2011, compared to $1.5 trillion in 2010. If MBA's forecast holds true, it will be the mortgage industry's poorest showing since 1997.

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Fed Sticks to Policy Initiatives as Economic Growth Remains Constrained

The Federal Reserve board held its first meeting of 2011 this week. It may be a new year with new faces around the boardroom table, but there's nothing new in the central bank's policy direction or its assessment of the economic recovery. Board members voted to press forward with plans to buy another $600 billion in securities and to keep the Fed's benchmark interest rate near zero, where it's been for two years now. One distinction did emerge--the vote was unanimous in favor of the policy decision for the first time in 12 months.

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Bank of America and Wells Fargo Most Sued Banks in 2010

A recent report by Institutional Risk Analytics (IRA) says Bank of America and Wells Fargo are two of the most sued financial service firms in the United States. IRA says that mortgage exposure is what is causing these two banks and others in similar situations to be embroiled in so many federal legal cases. In addition, the firm points to the added burden many of these companies are also facing in litigation that will not reach federal court, such as cases involving foreclosure practices.

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Commercial Property Prices Rise for Third Straight Month: Moody’s

Word on the street is that recovery is taking hold in the commercial real estate sector. Vacancy rates are starting to decline; delinquencies, although still elevated, are beginning to moderate; and property values are steadily increasing. Data released Monday by Moody's Investors Service validates this last point. The ratings agency reports that U.S. commercial real estate prices increased 0.6 percent in November, marking the third consecutive month of national price gains.

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