NEW YORK, NY (REIT Media) May 15, 2008 - Anthracite Capital, Inc. (“Anthracite” or the “Company”) (NYSE:AHR) today announced that its Board of Directors (the “Board”) has declared a second quarter 2008 cash dividend of $0.31 per share of common stock, representing a 3.3% increase over the prior dividend level of $0.30 per share.

The common stock cash dividend will be payable on July 31, 2008 to stockholders of record on June 30, 2008. The annualized dividend yield is 14.0% based upon the $8.58 closing price of Anthracite’s common stock on May 15, 2008.

The Board also declared a cash dividend for the quarterly period ending July 31, 2008 of $0.5859375 and $0.515625 per share of Series C and Series D Preferred Stock, respectively. The Series C and Series D Preferred Stock cash dividends will be payable on July 31, 2008 to stockholders of record on July 10, 2008.

The Company also announced that stockholders elected Walter E. Gregg Jr. to the Board and re-elected Hugh R. Frater, Jeffrey C. Keil, Deborah J. Lucas and Christopher A. Milner at today’s annual stockholders meeting. Mr. Gregg, formerly Vice Chairman and Director of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., also served on the Board of Directors of PFPC Worldwide, Inc. and BlackRock, Inc. from 1998 to 2002. Mr. Gregg will serve on the Board’s audit and nominating and corporate governance committees. With the addition of Mr. Gregg, the Board now consists of nine directors, six of whom are not affiliated with the Company. The Company also announced that the holder of the Series E Preferred Stock re-elected Andrew P. Rifkin to the Board as the Series E Preferred Stock-designated member.

In addition, the Company announced that stockholders approved the Anthracite Capital, Inc. 2008 Manager Equity Plan and ratified the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of the Company for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2008.

Dividend Reinvestment and Stock Purchase Plan

As previously reported, if you are a participant in the Company's Dividend Reinvestment and Stock Purchase Plan (the "Plan"), please note that the dividend reinvestment portion of the Plan has been reinstated for all dividend payments made after September 8, 2006, and for all future dividend payment dates, with a discount of 2%. The optional cash purchase portion of the Plan also has been reinstated for all investment periods commencing after October 1, 2006, with a discount of 1%.

To request a prospectus and receive enrollment materials or to ask questions about the Plan, interested investors and stockholders may contact the Company's transfer agent, American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, at 1-877-248-6416, or Investor Relations, Anthracite Capital, Inc., at 212-810-3333. The Company's website address is www.anthracitecapital.com.

About Anthracite

Anthracite Capital, Inc. is a specialty finance company focused on investments in high yield commercial real estate loans and related securities. Anthracite is externally managed by BlackRock Financial Management, Inc., which is a subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK), one of the largest publicly traded investment management firms in the United States with approximately $1.364 trillion in global assets under management at March 31, 2008. BlackRock Realty Advisors, Inc., another subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., provides real estate equity and other real estate-related products and services in a variety of strategies to meet the needs of institutional investors.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release, and other statements that Anthracite may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to Anthracite’s future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,” “position,” “assume,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,” “sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” or similar expressions.

Anthracite cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Anthracite assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.

In addition to factors previously disclosed in Anthracite’s SEC reports and those identified elsewhere in this communication, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: (1) the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives and strategies; (2) changes in political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate environment or financial and capital markets, which could result in changes in the value of Anthracite’s assets; (3) the relative and absolute investment performance and operations of BlackRock Financial Management, Inc. (“BlackRock”), Anthracite’s Manager; (4) the impact of increased competition; (5) the impact of future acquisitions or divestitures; (6) the unfavorable resolution of legal proceedings; (7) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms and regulatory, supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies relating to Anthracite or BlackRock; (8) terrorist activities and international hostilities, which may adversely affect the general economy, domestic and global financial and capital markets, specific industries, and Anthracite; (9) the ability of BlackRock to attract and retain highly talented professionals; (10) fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and (11) the impact of changes to tax legislation and, generally, the tax position of the Company.

Anthracite’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and Anthracite’s subsequent filings with the SEC, accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, identify additional factors that can affect forward-looking statements.

To learn more about Anthracite, visit our website at www.anthracitecapital.com. The information contained on the Company’s website is not a part of this press release.

Anthracite Capital, Inc.
Brian Beades, 212-810-5596
ahr-info@blackrock.com