The News Review:
- Could Hedge Funds Be Emerging As The New Mortgage Middleman?
- Week-to-week mortgage applications up 16.8%
- Hedge fund, private-equity firm to get help with mortgage investments
- Japan Land Prices May Fall as Property Funds Fail to Refinance
Could Hedge Funds Be Emerging As The New Mortgage Middleman?
StreetInsider.com (subscription), MI
Obviously, Citadel does not want to have to deal with 50,000 borrowers so now it has to go seek out mortgage companies and mortgage brokers to see if they can help refinance the loans in its portfolio. The above scenario has been an ongoing process for the past few months. Several funds and mortgage companies are working together to refinance these loans. In fact, just yesterday, Dan Gilbert’s Quicken Loans announced a deal to help Fortress Investment Group (NYSE:. Utilizing Quicken Loans to work on these loans is smart for Fortress because Quicken is one of the few companies who have the ability to close all types of loans across the entire United States. Back in May, Fortress started two mortgage opportunity funds with $660 million in assets.
Week-to-week mortgage applications up 16.8%
MarketWatch
30, 2008
A previous version of this story had an incorrect headline that said mortgage applications declined. The story has been corrected. CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Mortgage applications filed last week rose a seasonally adjusted 16. 8%, due mainly to an increase in refinancing activity, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. Application volume was still down 30% on an unadjusted basis for the week ended Oct. 24, compared with the same week in 2007, data compiled by the Washington-based MBA showed. The MBA’s weekly survey covers about one half of all U.
Hedge fund, private-equity firm to get help with mortgage investments
MarketWatch
30, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) – Fortress Investment Group unveiled a joint venture with Quicken Loans Inc. that will help the firm with its mortgage portfolios and investments. Quicken, the largest Internet-based retail mortgage lender, will help refinance and modify the home loans Fortress owns. Quicken has up to 2,600 staff available to help borrowers throughout the U. refinance into new mortgages, including loans offered by the Federal Housing Administration, Fortress (.
Related: 2nd UPDATE: Reserve Management Begins $26 Billion Primary Fund Payout
Japan Land Prices May Fall as Property Funds Fail to Refinance
Bloomberg
New lending to Japan's real estate sector fell19 percent in the three months ended June 30. “Delinquencies and refinancing failures are rising,especially from this month,'' said Kumamaru, who said propertymanagers may fail to refinance about 40 billion yen in loansthis year because of tighter credit. One upshot is likely to be further withering of Japan'scommercial mortgage-backed securities market, where bankersbundle mortgages and then sell them to investors in the form ofbonds. A total of just 209. 4 billion yen in these securities wassold so far this year, compared with 1. 36 trillion yen for allof 2007, according to Bloomberg data. Moody's Japan forecast this year's total sales of thesecurities, known as CMBS, may amount to no more than 30 percentof what was sold last year after global financial firms recordedat least $680 billion in losses and writedowns related to thecredit crisis.