Consensus is lacking on whether the troubles in the subprime sector will spread to the prime mortgage market, but there is little doubt that the Alt A business is feeling the heat. In fact, investors suggest that some Alt A securities are not even being bid on, a...
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Regardless of underwriting standards, without home price appreciation, there will not be a recovery in the subprime market, according to Sarbashis Ghosh, a senior director at Merrill Lynch. A scenario of stalled house price gains could lead to massive...
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The Financial Accounting Standards Board did not challenge the Mortgage Bankers Association’s position that efforts to modify troubled subprime mortgages held in securitization trusts do not violate current accounting rules. Neither the board nor the...
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The volume of jumbo mortgages pooled in non-agency MBS jumped 14.9 percent in the first quarter of 2007, continuing a steady increase in the securitization of loans too big to be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. A new Inside MBS & ABS analysis... [Includes two charts]
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are finding a big opportunity to ramp up their MBS production, thanks mostly to the continuing crisis in the subprime segment of the marketplace. And the subprime programs the government-sponsored enterprises announced earlier this year could...
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It’s not a distinction that many companies want these days, but Merrill Lynch ranked as the top issuer and underwriter in the subprime MBS market during the first quarter of 2007. With overall subprime MBS production dropping... [Includes two charts]
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While traditional players in the subprime MBS market such as Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs are unloading assets, attractive buying opportunities are opening up for different kinds of investors. Among them are universities. “We’ve got a...
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