HousingWire’s Monday Morning Cup of Coffee takes a look at news from the weekend, with more coverage on bigger issues.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners recently proposed changes to its modeling process for insurance holdings of residential mortgage-backed securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities positions.
Two proposed changes were made, including the use of risk-free Treasury strips curves and the LIBOR curve as the discount rates in deriving the prices on modeled securities.
The second proposal takes into account interest shortfalls in addition to principal losses when calculating expected losses.
“While there is some ambiguity in how the updated methodology will be implemented, we believe the NAIC intends to apply a more conservative approach to modeling nonagency RMBS and CMBS bonds by generally increasing loss forecasts,” according to Barclays.
Mortgage real estate investment trusts have been selling shares to the public like hotcakes over the past three years.
After raising record equity issuance of $13.4 billion last year, the sector is on track to break the record again this year, with $7.8 billion already raised, according to The Wall Street Journal.
However, mREITs still only represent a sliver of the overall market for mortgage bonds, especially for securities backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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The tools that allowed owners to pull out massive amounts of money during the boom years — equity credit lines and second mortgages — are making a comeback.
Banks and credit analysts say the dollar volumes of new originations of home equity loans are up again, especially in areas of the country experiencing post-recession rebounds in property values, according to the LA Times.
Not only have owners’ equity positions grown substantially on a national basis since 2011, but also banks are willing to allow homeowners to tap into that equity.
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The Twin Cities housing sector is in the midst of a comeback – at least, that’s what local real estate agents argue.
During the first three months of this year, a total 507 homes were sold in the Twin Cities, up nearly 28% from the first quarter of 2012, Pantagraph writes.
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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shut down three banks at the end of last week, compared to only three banks in the last three months.
Chipola Community Bank in Marianna, Fla., was closed by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, which appointed the FDIC as the receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into an agreement with First Federal Bank of Florida in Lake City, Fla., to assume all of the deposits of Chipola Community Bank.
The former Chipola Community Bank will reopen its sole branch on Monday as First Federal Bank of Florida.
As of Dec. 31, Chipola Community Bank had $39.2 million in total assets and $37.6 million in total deposits.
Meanwhile, Heritage Bank of North Florida in Orange Park, Fla., was also closed by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, which appointed the FDIC as the receiver.
FirstAtlantic Bank of Jacksonville, Fla. will assume all of the deposits of Heritage Bank of Florida.
The two branches of Heritage Bank of North Florida will reopen Monday as branches of FirstAtlantic Bank.
At the end of 2012, Heritage Bank of North Florida had $110.9 million in total assets and $108.5 million in total deposits.
Additionally, First Federal Bank of Lexington, KY, had its doors locked by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the FDIC as the receiver.
The FDIC entered into an agreement with Your Community Bank in New Albany, Ind., to assume all of the deposits of First Federal Bank.
The former First Federal Bank reopened its five branches during normal business hours on April 20 as Your Community Bank.
As of Dec. 31, the First Federal Bank had approximately $100.1 million in total assets and $93.9 million in total deposits.
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