Amid some very strong rumors flying around that I won’t print here, this just came down the pike from Reuters: The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told lawmakers on Tuesday that the agency has opened 12 enforcement investigations into matters surrounding collateralized debt obligations. “There is now a commonality of interest between banking regulators [...]

The latest S&P/Case-Shiller Index values, out today, show that a key measure — the 10-city composite — posted an annual decline of 2.7 percent in April, the worst reading since late 1991. From the press release: “A review of the decline in home price returns on a regional level shows no region is immune to the weakening [...]

After charging ahead 12.5 percent in April, the Commerce Department reported this morning that new home sales drifted downward in April by 1.6 percent to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 915,000 units. That rate is 15.9 percent below year-ago sales volume, for those who prefer to follow year-ago comparisons. From the Associated Press: The slump in sales affected [...]

NERA Economic Consulting has released a white paper, The Subprime Meltdown: A Primer, which covers the mechanics of the subprime market as well as providing a good top-level overview of the securitization process. If any HW readers out there aren’t in the industry, or don’t understand this process, it’s certainly worth a read from that [...]

(June 26, 2007) — a la mode announced the release of free ‘Originator’ level Mortgage XSites at the National Association of Mortgage Brokers annual convention.

(June 25, 2007) — Integrated Asset Services (IAS), a leading provider of residential asset management, today announced i-Series, a nationwide due diligence platform.

BusinessWeek broke the story today that the Securities and Exchange Commission is now looking into Bear Stearns’ handling of at least one of its two troubled hedge funds: … the Securities & Exchange Commission recently opened a preliminary inquiry into the near-collapse of Bear Stearns’ High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leveraged Fund. People familiar with the [...]

Last week, you’ll recall the the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight released proposed guidelines covering conforming loan limits — and that the language used led to some real confusion from yours truly. It looks like I wasn’t alone in my confusion, as the OFHEO today released a clarification of its proposed guidance, adding scenarios to [...]

In a report that manages to be a geeky advertisement for its own preferred measure of housing prices, the OFHEO last week released a report covering differences between its own HPI index and the popular S&P/Case-Shiller indices. The report claims that the HPI index values are a) geographically broader, b) include more states, c) include more [...]

(June 25, 2007) — Mortgage Network Inc. is touting their growth plans and new additions to the company.