National Mortgage News

Sales of homes priced above $750,000 are starting to pick up after being frozen at a very low level last year.

One third of the streamlined refinanced loans that the Federal Housing Administration insured in 2009 are probably underwater, according to a New York University economics professor.

The average age of newly delinquent loans is higher today than in 2007, according to a recent Lender Processing Services report.

Lured by less competition for jobs, more and more immigrants are putting down permanent roots outside the major gateway cities of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, according to a new paper by the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate.

The Granite Companies, Denver, Colo., are launching a new division to administer and develop new core business opportunities in public and private commercial construction lending markets.

Moody's Investors Service has placed 40 RMBS resecuritization tranches with a current outstanding balance of $500 million on watch for possible downgrade.

It was a productive year for special servicers in 2009, but there's a lot more where that came from, according to a new Fitch Ratings report.

The level of U.S. commercial real estate loan delinquencies in collateralized debt obligations has decreased slightly, according to Fitch Ratings.

Weighted average delinquencies in nonconforming United Kingdom mortgage-backed securities were stable in January, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Milestone Merchant Partners is now officially offering for sale a $20 billion package of residential servicing rights on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The pace of permanent Home Affordable Mortgage Program loan modifications is now averaging roughly 50,000 a month with the cumbersome government program finally getting its legs.

The Obama administration is working on a national program to address negative equity, but first it wants to test existing programs managed by state housing finance agencies.

Mortgage bankers funded roughly $414 billion of new home loans in the fourth quarter, the industry's worst quarter of the year and an indication that production -- as anticipated -- will be weaker in 2010.

GMAC Mortgage LLC's corrective actions related to an unusual servicing practice that could hurt ratings on nearly $6 billion of RMBS it services are scheduled for completion by April 1, according to a Moody's Investors Service report.

GMAC Financial Services has hired Goldman Sachs to start the process of selling the company's money-losing mortgage unit Residential Capital Corp., according to a new published report.

Mortgage vendor Lender Processing Services Inc. is requesting nearly $3 million in city and state incentives to add 350 full-time jobs in Jacksonville, Fla., according to a report in the Jacksonville Business Journal.

Kevin Jackson, previously a director in convexity products at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will be joining Wells Fargo Securities as part of the firm's efforts to bolster its residential financing, origination, and trading activities.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sold $1.37 billion of structured guaranteed notes backed by residential and construction loan assets from Corus Bank.

Fitch Ratings, Chicago, believes that the title industry's 2010 revenue decline could range between 10% and 15%, based on the projected fall-off in mortgage origination volume.

Morgan Keegan & Co., Memphis, Tenn., will market Farmer Mac loan programs designed specifically for its bank clients which hold agricultural loans in their portfolios.