The commercial MBS market is facing a new challenge as questions have been raised about the “true sale” treatment of these transactions under generally accepted accounting principles. The issue arises from risk-retention requirements that went into effect in late 2016. “Failure of accounting sale treatment means the selling bank cannot book the gain and does not derecognize the underlying loans resulting in the entire portfolio of loans remaining on its balance sheet for both GAAP and presumably, for risk based capital purposes,” according to the Dechert law firm. In order to benefit from an accounting true sale, each third-party holder of a beneficial interest in the securitization must have...
The proposed $4.3 billion merger of single-family rental operators Invitation Homes and Starwood Waypoint Homes will create a corporate landlord with 82,000 homes – and a behemoth of a potential client for Fannie Mae and possibly Freddie Mac. Earlier this year, Fannie agreed to provide Invitation Homes with $1 billion in financing. The deal broke new ground for the government-sponsored enterprise, but it also raised questions about whether a government-owned entity that received billions in taxpayer assistance should be lending money to a company (Invitation Homes) grubstaked by Wall Street. Since the Invitation-Fannie arrangement was unveiled, no other significant SFR financing vehicles involving a GSE has...
In the new world of risk retention and commercial real estate securitization, direct issuance could be a potential financing alternative should third-party risk-retention capital become inadequate to meet demand, according to a CRE debt market expert. Direct issuance and other alternative types of transactions may become increasingly viable in addressing the difficulty of refreshing on an ongoing basis the amount of capital necessary to float the commercial MBS industry, said Rick Jones, a partner with Dechert and co-chair of the firm’s finance and real estate group. Jones cited...
The Senate Committee on Appropriations last week unanimously approved legislation setting aside $40.2 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development for fiscal 2018. The Senate HUD appropriations bill passed by a vote of 31-0 and, like the House version, did not include authority for HUD to charge a fee to cover FHA’s administrative costs and systems upgrades as proposed in the Trump administration’s budget request. Rather, both bills set aside $130 million for administrative expenses with the House adding another $5 million for technological improvements. In addition, the committee recommended...
The biggest surge was in non-agency securitization of mortgages on hotels and other lodging properties, which jumped 88.7 percent from the first quarter.
New issuance of MBS backed by income-property mortgages during the second quarter rebounded from a lull in early 2017, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. A total of $51.03 billion of commercial mortgages were securitized in the second quarter, a gain of 12.1 percent from the first three months of 2017. That brought year-to-date commercial MBS issuance to $96.54 billion, 12.4 percent ahead of the pace set in 2016. But CMBS production was...[Includes one data table]
Loans collateralized by multifamily properties experienced the biggest increase in the delinquency rate among commercial property types during the month of June, rising 133 basis points to 4.10 percent, according to a new CMBS report from Moody’s Investors Service. But it may not be as bad, sector-wise, as it appears at first glance. “The difference was due mainly to two newly delinquent loans, both multifamily portfolios in the MLMT 2007-C1 transaction,” explained Kevin Fagan, a vice president and senior analyst with the ratings service. “Assuming these loans were current, the multifamily delinquency rate for June would be 2.57 percent.” Delinquency rates increased...
The House Financial Services Committee agreed to make key changes to flood insurance reform legislation clearing the way for industry groups to endorse the bill. The committee’s most recent draft includes provisions that would retain “grandfathering,” a policy that protects policyholders from significant rate increases when the Federal Emergency Management Agency periodically revises its flood maps, and allow federal flood insurance coverage of new homes built in 100-year floodplains. The committee also proposes...