Allison Bisbey

While the $1.9 billion of bonds are not guaranteed by the government, most of the underlying loans could have been sold to Fannie and Freddie, and the transaction accomplishes the same thing as the GSEs' risk-transfer deals.

Market volatility and new regulatory burdens are thinning the ranks of commercial mortgage lenders that underwrite loans for securitizations. Activity is slowing down as a result, and it is unclear if banks and insurers will fill the void, especially outside the largest cities.

Competition among lenders for commercial mortgages has driven down interest rates, margins and underwriting standards, and now it's helped drive one lender out of the business.

Lenders argue that the GSEs would be better off buying more loans that are already insured, rather than transferring credit risk after holding them for a time. But Freddie Mac's Kevin Palmer says certainty of reimbursement is more important than the timing of risk transfers.

Forget "bigger is better." Several private-equity-backed lenders are making loans to small landlords, who represent the biggest chunk of the home-rental market and get less help from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than they once did.

It could take six months or more before people who deal in collateralized loan obligations receive more explicit regulatory guidance on "skin in the game" rules.

Income-based repayment, a federal government effort to relieve student-loan debt burdens, has roiled a normally tranquil securitization market, as investors can no longer be sure of when they'll be repaid.