For the real estate industry the requirement that originators keep 5% of loans that they securitize in RMBS or CMBS is of distinct interest--if it helps jump-start the moribund capital markets as it is hoped it will do. Other changes proposed by the Administration, though, promise to pack an equally potent wallop albeit in the longer term.

For starters, Treasury is proposing to make the Federal Reserve act as an overseer of companies deemed "too big to fail"--a term that has become part of the industry lexicon after nine months of financial crisis, but has yet to be adequately defined. In this plan such companies are termed "large and interconnected" a category that appears to go beyond banks to include other financial institutions.

These new powers would include greater ability to impose capital and liquidity requirements as well as take corrective actions when these levels are not maintained or achieved. The Fed would also have the ability to help unwind these entities when necessary.