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46 BLACKSTONE GROUP LEAVES SINGLE-FAMILY RENTAL BUSINESS e Blackstone Group Inc. sold the last of its shares in Invitation Homes, the company's rental business. Blackstone sold around 11% of Invitation Homes' shares for about $1.7 billion, made about $7 billion since the home rental business went public in 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal. Invitation Homes says that certain selling stockholders affiliated with Blackstone have started a secondary offering of 57.6 million shares of Invitation Homes common stock. Upon completing the offering and Blackstone's related distribution of its remaining 300,452 shares in Invitation Homes to its partners, Blackstone will no longer beneficially own shares in Invitation Homes, according to Seeking Alpha. "We created a company from scratch. It was created on a yellow pad. It was an idea. Now it's a real business," Jonathan Gray, Blackstone's President, told the Wall Street Journal. Blackstone created the Invitations Homes unit in 2012 in response to the housing crisis in order to capitalize on the growing demand for rental properties coming largely from people who lost homes to foreclosure in the crisis and were unable to obtain mortgage credit to buy another home. rough Invitation Homes, Blackstone became one of the biggest landlords in the U.S. When Invitation Homes officially went public in 2017, it oversaw approximately 50,000 housing units, the largest pool of rental homes across 14 of the nation's metropolitan markets. Blackstone stated on its website that the platform creates jobs and provides high quality, affordable housing for families nationwide. In July 2016, Blackstone first announced the intention to go public with Invitation Homes at some point in the first half of 2017 in order to capitalize "on a rally in U.S. single-family rental landlords to list the biggest company in the industry." In December 2016, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported that Blackstone had "filed confidentially for an initial public offering" with regard to Invitation Homes. EMPLOYMENT'S CONNECTION TO MORTGAGE DELINQUENCIES In the states with the biggest gains in delinquency, job loss was a contributing factor, according to the latest Loan Performance Insights Reports from CoreLogic. While the nation's overall delinquency remains near the lowest level since at least 1999, five states posted small annual increases in overall delinquency rates in August: Iowa (0.2 percentage points), Minnesota (0.1 percentage points), Nebraska (0.1 percentage points), Wisconsin (0.1 percentage points), and Rhode Island (0.1 percentage points). "Job loss can trigger a loan delinquency, especially for families with limited savings," said Dr. Frank Nothaft Chief Economist for CoreLogic. "e rise in overall delinquency in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin coincided with a rise in state unemployment rates between August 2018 and August 2019." Additionally, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana, New Hampshire, and Utah all saw increases in serious delinquency rates, or loans 90 days or more past due including loans in foreclosure. On a smaller scale, 47 metropolitan areas recorded small annual increases in overall delinquency rates in August. Some of the highest gains were in the Midwest and Southeast. Metros with the largest increases were Dubuque, Iowa (2.2 percentage points); Pine Bluff, Arkansas (1.1 percentage points); Goldsboro, North Carolina (0.6 percentage points); and Panama City, Florida (0.5 percentage points). Additionally, 19 metropolitan areas recorded small annual increases in their serious delinquency rates. Metros with the largest increases were Panama City, Florida (0.9 percentage points); Jacksonville, North Carolina (0.2 percentage points); Wilmington, North Carolina (0.2 percentage points); and Goldsboro, North Carolina (0.2 percentage points). e remaining 15 metro areas logged annual increases of 0.1 percentage point. "Delinquency rates are at 14-year lows, reflecting a decade of tight underwriting standards, the benefits of prolonged low interest rates, and the improved balance sheets of many households across the country," said Frank Martell President and CEO of CoreLogic. "Despite this month's near record-low serious delinquency rate, several metros in hurricane- ravaged areas of the Southeast have experienced higher delinquency rates of late. We expect to see these metros to return to pre-disaster delinquency rates over the next several months."

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