The Lede

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's report on fourth quarter Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac foreclosure prevention actions confirms a much-needed piece of good news for the real estate finance industry: the market is starting to look "normal" again.

The Mortgage Bankers Association released its fourth quarter Commercial/Multifamily DataBook today.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a Mar. 31 letter to The Appraisal Foundation, offered recommendations for attracting new appraisers to the real estate finance business and eliminating barriers to their entry.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 31, 2016--Sinnock, Bonnie Ginnie Mae, the government agency that guarantees securitizations of Federal Housing Administration-insured loans is experimenting with a pool type that consists only of modifications and reperforming loans.

Reuters, Apr. 1, 2016--Wiltermuth, Joy Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan stripped out non-bank collateral on their latest commercial mortgage bond before it was sold to investors, winning favor with the simpler structure in a market scarred by volatility and regulatory pressures.

Buffalo News (N.Y.), Apr. 2, 2016--Glynn, Matt The state Department of Financial Services found delays at different steps of the legal process, with each side blaming the other for repeated postponements. New York, like about half of all states, has a judicial process for foreclosures, meaning the cases wind through court, with a judge overseeing the proceedings.

Bloomberg, Apr. 1, 2016--Levine, Matt The MetLife decision counts as a loss for the post-crisis system of trying to create systemic stability by prudentially regulating (and/or shrinking) too-big-to-fail firms. The GE application surely counts as a victory.

World Property Journal, Apr. 1, 2016--Rachid, Monsef According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest Commercial/Multifamily DataBook, the fourth quarter was the fourth highest quarter for borrowing and lending on record.

Pensions and Investments, Apr. 4, 2016--Jacobius, Arleen Institutional investors are moving back into residential mortgage-backed securities, even as lawsuit settlements are giving them back some of the money they lost on RMBS investments made before the financial crisis.

Wall Street Journal, Apr. 4, 2016--Carney, John The chances of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being released from conservatorship are extremely low, Carney says. A far more probable outcome: that they get wound down and replaced by a new system, perhaps along the line of the National Mortgage Reinsurance Corporation recently outlined in a paper by Jim Parrott, Lew Ranieri, Gene Sperling, Mark Zandi and Barrry Zigas.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 31, 2016--Zeng, Min Bond investors are bracing for a turbulent second quarter as they struggle to reconcile surging U.S. employment with some of the lowest bond yields in years.

HousingWire, Mar. 31, 2016--Swanson, Brena The initial shockwave from TRID is over, replacing beginning fears and worries with solid evidence of what the new rule is doing to the mortgage industry.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 29, 2016--Kusisto, Laura Miami is facing a condo bust-again. Developers have started canceling projects, slashing prices and offering incentives such as private-jet access to spur sales, an ominous echo of the housing crash that pounded South Florida especially hard.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 31, 2016--Mann, Ted General Electric Co. formally asked to be released from supervision by the Federal Reserve on Thursday, saying it has sufficiently shrunk its once-massive financial services arm so it would no longer pose a systemic threat to the financial system.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 29, 2016--Tymesen, Tana Military families and service members are submitting debt collection complaints to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau at twice the rate of other consumers.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 29, 2016--Light, JoeNationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc., which made its name servicing delinquent loans, this summer plans to rename itself "Mr. Cooper." Foreclosure sales company Auction.com in January rebranded as "Ten-X." Mortgage-services firm Altisource Portfolio Solutions last year bought rental-data firm RentRange and real-estate-investment website Investability.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 30, 2016--Collins, Brian Bankers are fighting back against a plan that would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invest in low-income housing tax credits, arguing they are critical for meeting Community Reinvestment Act requirements.

DS News, Mar. 30, 2016--Honea, Brian Fannie Mae's gross mortgage portfolio resumed its contraction in February following a rare month of expansion in January, according to the GSE's Monthly Volume Summary for February 2016.

HousingWire, Mar. 30, 2016--Swanson, Brena The mortgage portfolio of the top banks in the market has steadily dwindled over the past two years, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's quarterly report on mortgages.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 30, 2016--Tracy, Ryan A federal judge overturned U.S. regulators' determination that MetLife Inc. poses a threat to the financial system, granting the insurer a victory in its quest to avoid stricter rules and potentially undermining a central part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law.