LPS releases study that demonstrates the impact of foreclosure sales on home prices

MBA reacts to public-private investment program MortgagePress.comJohn A. Courson, Mortgage Bankers Association, distressed assets, Mortgage-Backed Securities John A. Courson, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), has issued the following statement after announcement of the details of the administration's public-private program to purchase distressed assets from financial institutions. "The private sector will play an important role in helping stabilize the financial system, and the details unveiled this morning are a step in the right direction. The public/private approach will leverage the government guarantee and private sector innovation to provide an outlet for financial institutions to sell legacy loans and legacy securities that are currently clogging their books. This will, in turn, inject liquidity into the system and hopefully unlock the credit markets. "We are extremely pleased to see that program will allow for the inclusion of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS). The commercial real estate market has been hit hard by the lack of available liquidity and the credit crunch. Allowing for the inclusion of CMBS in TALF should help relieve the pressure in the commercial real estate market. "We look forward to working with Treasury, the FDIC and private sector participants to help implement a program that will have the greatest possible impact to resolve the credit crunch and help restart lending." For more information, visit www.mortgagebankers.org.