Based on the latest secondary mortgage transactions, the federal government is by far the biggest player in the secondary market. Less stellar players include a portfolio broker and a California-based investor. Two firms are touting their growing trading platforms.
The closing of two private note offerings by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was announced last month. The notes are backed by performing and non-performing construction loans, residential loans and real-estate-owned acquired through the receivership of Chicago’s Corus Bank, N.A., and Houston’s Franklin Bank, S.S.B.
The $1.38 billion in Corus notes were backed by performing and non-performing construction loans and REO assets with aggregate unpaid balances of around $4.5 billion. Corus Bank was closed in September 2009 by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The $0.7 billion in Franklin notes is backed by $1.22 billion in performing and non-performing residential loans and REO assets. Franklin failed in November 2008 and was seized by the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending.
A $306 million portfolio of non-performing multifamily and healthcare loans was auctioned through KDX Ventures for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, an May 12 news release said. The offering involved 26 assets that went up for sale in April.
More than 200 individual and pool bids were submitted by 67 bidders, KDX said. The 12 bids that were accepted represented 48 percent of the unpaid principal balances.
The statement indicated that the sale highlights the pent-up demand and liquidity for commercial real estate assets.
A $300 million portfolio of non-performing commercial mortgages is being marketed by Mission Capital Advisors. The New York-based company said the 36 loans are all part of commercial mortgage-backed securities and backed by U.S. properties with more than 4.6 million square feet. Industrial loans account for 13 percent of the collateral.
Bids will initially be solicited on May 26, and finalized loan sale agreements will be required before the June 23 final bid date. A “comprehensive array of due-diligence materials” is available to prospective bidders.
At Calabasas, Calif.-based PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, five whole loan pools with $208 million in mortgages were acquired during the first quarter, a news release earlier this month said. PennyMac said the pools are valued at $115 million and bring its total portfolio to $200 million.
In April, PennyMac said it closed on another $141 million in secondary acquisitions valued at $71 million.
Last month, Commercial Mortgage Alert reported that MetLife was shopping 22 performing commercial mortgages for $196 million. With a weighted-average remaining term of under two years, the loans have a 6.6 percent weighted-average coupon and are backed by industrial-warehouse, multifamily, office and retail properties.
Loans sold through the LoanMarket.net note-trading platform during the first quarter jumped 200 percent from the fourth-quarter, the Irvine, Calif.-based company reported last week. One-quarter of the activity was first-time buyers. Trading volume soared 400 percent from the first-quarter 2009.
LoanMarket.net said it began building the platform 18 months ago, at a time when trades were only being made between the same counterparties at very large wholesale levels and weren’t available to most non-institutional investors.
