Regulators Ask Blackstone Subsidiary To Explain Valuations For U.S. Homes Sold Into Mortgage-Backed Bonds

The Securities and Exchange Commission is scrutinizing how Invitation Homes, a subsidiary of Blackstone Group and one of the country’s largest home rental companies, valued assets it sold into mortgage-backed bonds.

Regulators have asked the landlord to provide documentation related to its use of broker's price opinion, the home valuation process that helped companies like Invitation build large portfolios of single-family rentals after the financial crisis, according to International Financing Review. Broker's price opinion are not as in-depth as traditional property appraisals.

Starwood Waypoint Homes, currently in the midst of a merger with Invitation that would create the largest rental-home landlord in the country, has also received a subpoena requesting documentation and communications related to securitizations, SNL reports.

After the financial crisis, a number of companies used broker's price opinion to quickly acquire and bundle portfolios of hundreds of single-family rental home properties into single-family rental bonds. Those bonds are now being investigated to see if they employed the same relaxed standards that contributed to the last housing crisis.

According to IFR, Starwood has put its latest SFR bond offering on hold while the SEC probe is underway.

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's National Newsletters
Related Stories

Wall Street Impatient For Big Tech Returns On Data Center Spending

As AI Adoption Ramps Up, Half A Million Property Managers Are In The Crosshairs

Treasuries Hover Around 4.7% As Wall Street Questions If Warsh Is A 'Dove In Hawk's Clothing'

Avison Young Had Assets Frozen By Bank Over Unpaid Taxes

Camden Property Trust Sells West Coast Portfolio, Clears $1.5B Target

Churchill Downs Plans To Sell 9 Casinos, Focus On Horse Racing

Bringing Stability And Savings To CRE Insurance Through Working Layer

More Hotel Owners In Need Of Cash Are Getting It From The Big Brands

Former Arms Dealer Targeting Heartland Apartment Takeover Files For Bankruptcy

SEC Charges REIT, Its Founders With Alleged $152M Fraud Scheme

Equinix Ramps Up Spending Plans Amid Faster-Than-Expected AI Shift

Cortland, Pulte, INVH, Walker & Dunlop Execs Talk Changing Demographics, AI