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MCLEAN, VA - March 21, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today announced that it is making available loan-level credit performance data on a portion of the fully amortizing 30-year fixed-rate single-family mortgages the company purchased over the past 13 years. The company is making the single-family performance data available at the direction of its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 21, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Wells Fargo was the top commercial/multifamily mortgage originator in 2012, according to a set of commercial/multifamily real estate finance league tables prepared by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Other top originators include Bank of America Merrill Lynch; HFF, L.P.; PNC Real Estate; Meridian Capital Group, LLC; CBRE Capital Markets, Inc.; Prudential Mortgage Capital Company; KeyBank Real Estate Capital; Jones Lang LaSalle; Walker & Dunlop; Northmarq Capital LLC and Berkadia

ERIE COUNTY, NY - March 20, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz was joined by Erie County Attorney Michael Siragusa in announcing that Erie County (“the County”) has filed a lawsuit against the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) to recover millions of dollars in unpaid real estate transfer taxes. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, contends that the two federally-charted and privately-held corporations have failed to pay both the New York Real Estate Transfer Tax and Erie County Real Estate Transfer Tax, which are excise taxes, on thousands of mortgages in Erie County and have thus deprived local taxpayers and municipalities of rightful tax income.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 20, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage applications decreased 7.1 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 15, 2013.

Chapel Hill, NC and Washington, DC - March 20, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- A new study shows the risk of mortgage default is one-third lower for energy-efficient, ENERGY STAR-rated homes – a factor lenders and Congress should consider when making mortgage loans and policy

Washington, DC - March 19, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac; NYSE: AGM and AGM.A) today announced that it achieved record business volume and core earnings for the year ended December 31, 2012. Farmer Mac' outstanding business volume, consisting of loans, guarantees, and commitments, rose to $13.0 billion as of December 31, 2012, up from $11.9 billion as of December 31, 2011. Farmer Mac's 2012 core earnings, a non-GAAP measure, increased 15.7 percent to $49.6 million ($4.51 per diluted common share), continuing the upward trend from $42.9 million ($3.97 per diluted common share) in 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 19, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) announced the launch of a major new campaign to reshape U.S. tax policy to make affordable housing more available to the nation’s 10.1 million extreme low-income renter households. The centerpiece of the NLIHC campaign is a proposal to modify the mortgage interest deduction for higher income Americans and invest the savings in the National Housing Trust Fund, which was established to serve low-income housing needs. The organization today also released a new national public opinion poll showing broad, bipartisan support for such a proposal

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 19, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- “Home Energy Efficiency and Mortgage Risks” was released today (March 19) by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Community Capital and the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT), a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting energy efficiency. The report can be downloaded at www.ccc.unc.edu and at imt.org/resources/detail/home-energy-efficiency-and-mortgage-risks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 18, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- David H. Stevens, President & CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), today announced the promotion of Kenneth A. Markison, Esq., formerly Associate Vice President and Regulatory Counsel, to Vice President and Regulatory Counsel. In his new position, Markison will lead and manage MBA’s public policy initiatives around residential loan production, legal issues and regulatory compliance.

WASHINGTON, DC - March 15, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Low Income Housing Coalition will hold a conference call on Monday, March 18 to discuss the launch of a $1 million campaign to modify the mortgage interest deduction and invest in the National Housing Trust Fund. Rep. Keith Ellison will join us to discuss his bill, the Common Sense Housing Investment Act of 2013. In addition, NLIHC will release a new national public opinion poll showing broad, bipartisan support for the proposal.

WASHINGTON, DC - March 15, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Approximately 20 percent of American households live in multi-family rental buildings, yet until today little was known about how these larger rental properties are financed. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau today released the new 2012 Rental Housing Finance Survey, which provides a more complete picture of the nation’s multi-family rental properties, including data on property values, how their mortgages are financed, and characteristics of the structures.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage Cadence LLC, a leading provider of Enterprise Lending Solutions (ELS) Technology and Document and Compliance Services for the financial services industry, announced today that Langley Federal Credit Union based in Hampton Roads, VA will be using its Symphony platform to support their rapidly expanding mortgage program. Symphony is one of two comprehensive Enterprise Lending Systems offered by Mortgage Cadence and is known for both the enhanced experience it offers borrowers as well as the efficiencies it enables for mortgage lenders.

WASHINGTON, DC - March 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- HOPE NOW, the voluntary, private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers and non-profit counselors, released its January 2013 loan modification data. An estimated 78,397 homeowners received permanent, affordable loan modifications from mortgage servicers during the month. This includes modifications completed under both proprietary programs and the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

Washington, DC - March 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Government backing for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) gives it competitive advantages over private sector mortgage insurers, driving them out of the marketplace and leaving homebuyers with fewer choices, witnesses told the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance today.

Birmingham, AL - March 13, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Team Penske today announced that Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc., the nation’s largest online mortgage lender and third-largest mortgage lender in the country, will join the team’s IZOD IndyCar Series racing efforts as a sponsor beginning in 2013.

MCLEAN, VA - March 13, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Freddie Mac's (OTCQB: FMCC) full menu of relief policies for borrowers affected by disaster is being extended to homeowners whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the storms and floods that swept through Mississippi last February and are located in jurisdictions that the President has declared to be Major Disaster Areas and where federal Individual Assistance programs are made available to affected individuals and households. Freddie Mac is one of the nation's largest investors in residential mortgages

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 13, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage applications decreased 4.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 8, 2013.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 12, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Debra W. Still, CMB, Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), issued the following statement addressing concerns about the potential that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will exhaust its commitment authority for multifamily and healthcare programs:

WASHINGTON, DC - March 12, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The level of commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding increased by $21.8 billion, or 0.9 percent, in the fourth quarter of 2012, as all four major investor groups increased their holdings, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). On a year-over-year basis, the amount of mortgage debt outstanding at the end of 2012 was $29.7 billion higher than at the end of 2011, an increase of 1.2 percent.

Washington, D.C. - March 11, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Multi-State Mortgage Committee (MMC, or the Committee) released today its 2012 annual report highlighting accomplishments of the Committee in 2012