September 14, 2017
Latest from Inside Mortgage Finance
Total jumbo originations rose by 11.8 percent from the previous quarter according to estimates from Inside Mortgage Finance
Agency-Jumbo Production Sagged in 2Q17 While Non-Agency Sector Kept Growing
Deliveries of conforming-jumbo loans into mortgage-backed securities slowed during the second quarter of 2017, despite the solid increase in originations of non-agency jumbo loans, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. During the second quarter, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae securitized $27.62 billion of single-unit mortgages that had loan amounts exceeding the $424,100 conforming loan limit. That was down 4.6 percent from the first three months of the year, a smaller drop than the 6.9 percent decline in total Fannie, Freddie, FHA and VA activity. But the non-agency jumbo market saw...[Includes three data tables]
Redwood Sourcing ‘Expanded Prime’ Jumbo Mortgages From Hundreds of Correspondents
Redwood Trust has seen strong demand from borrowers and correspondent lenders for its “expanded prime” program that the aggregator introduced last year. The real estate investment trust’s Choice products allow for somewhat looser underwriting than the super-prime mortgages that have dominated the jumbo market after the financial crisis. The Choice program was introduced in April 2016. Volume has increased relatively quickly and could top $1.0 billion this year. Officials say...
The Chatter Continues on M&A. Prosperity Mortgage Has a New Parent (Warren Buffett)
Mortgage originators that produce $1 billion to $4 billion a year in loans are continuing to be courted by potential suitors, but not many sale agreements are getting signed these days, according to investment bankers. “Private equity firms are still looking to enter the business, and sellers are listening, but I’m not seeing too many deals being completed,” said Chuck Klein, a managing partner at Mortgage Banking Solutions, Austin, TX. At the beginning of the year, Klein was...
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Inside FHA/VA Lending
Ginnie Mae to Take Action Against Illicit Refinancing of VA Mortgages
Rapid, aggressive refinancing of VA loans has made a comeback with some issuers using strategies to mask the practice and avoid possible penalties, including expulsion from the Ginnie Mae program, according to a top agency official. Responding to concerns raised by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, Michael Bright, acting Ginnie Mae president and chief operations officer, said a joint Ginnie Mae/VA lender-abuse task force is analyzing monthly data and developing additional policy measures to deal with the problem. Bright confirmed the resurgence of inappropriate streamline refinancing in Ginnie securitization pools in recent weeks and has promised to crack down on the questionable practice. The problem surfaced last year when Ginnie Mae noticed unusually fast prepayment speeds in its mortgage-backed securities, particularly MBS backed by VA loans. Ginnie found that certain lenders and ...
Inside Nonconforming Markets
Redwood Brings its First ‘Expanded Prime’ MBS With Higher Credit Enhancement
Redwood Trust is set to issue its first jumbo mortgage-backed security backed predominantly by loans with looser underwriting standards than the super-prime jumbos that have dominated the market. The planned $316.49 million Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2017-CH-1 includes many non-qualified mortgages and other loans that fall outside of Redwood’s traditional Select program. Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s Investors Service assigned preliminary AAA ratings to the MBS last week ...
Inside MBS & ABS
Treasury Discussing GSE Issues with Trade Groups; Multiple Guarantors, Capital Are on the Table
Over the past several weeks, the Treasury Department has been meeting with several industry trade groups about the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, discussing – among other things – what to do about the impending “zero capital” problem as well as the topic of multiple guarantors. Treasury’s goal, these officials said, is to come up with a workable blueprint on the future of the government-sponsored enterprises and the nation’s housing finance system – changes that might touch Ginnie Mae as well. Late this week there was...
Inside the CFPB
CFPB Eyeballing Equifax, Forced Arbitration an Issue
An official from the CFPB confirmed late last week the agency is looking into the massive data breach at Equifax, widely seen as the most significant, and potentially most damaging, so far in the age of the Internet. A spokesman for the bureau told this newsletter, “The CFPB has authority over the consumer reporting industry, including supervisory and enforcement authority. The CFPB is authorized to take enforcement action against institutions engaged in unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices, or that otherwise violate federal consumer financial laws. We are looking into the data breach and Equifax’s response, but cannot comment further at this time.” However, it’s not just the occurrence of the breach that bothers the consumer regulator. As part ...
Inside Mortgage Trends
Large Banks Still Backing Away From Mortgage Servicing, Valuations Steady
A handful of large banks continued to retreat from the business of servicing home loans for other investors during the second quarter of 2017, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call reports. Commercial banks and savings institutions reported that they serviced $3.627 trillion of residential mortgages for other investors, typically mortgage-backed securities trusts, as of the end of June. That was down just 0.4 percent from the previous period ... [Includes one data chart]
Inside The GSEs
Fannie/Freddie 1-Family MBS Business Up Again in August
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac produced a total of $77.42 billion of new single-family mortgage-backed securities in August, their fourth consecutive monthly gain. August single-family MBS issuance was up 8.8 percent from the previous month at Fannie, and up 6.1 percent at Freddie. Their combined production represented a 7.8 percent increase from July. Although the two GSEs have seen steady growth in MBS issuance in recent months, production through the first eight months of 2017 was down 1.6 percent from a year ago. And other than January and February, every month in 2017 has yielded less new business than it did last year.
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Most Popular Stories
- House FSC to Work on GSE Reform Again. (Hint: It Looks like the PATH Act)
- Short Takes: About Those GSE Dividend Payments… / The Man Wants to be Paid / Record Attendance at ABS East / LendingTree Buys Snap Capital / Webster Gets a New President
- It’s Official: Lone Star’s New Security Largest Post-Crisis Nonprime MBS To Date
- New Poll: Industry Says Let Congress Fix the GSEs
- Mortgage M&A Chatter Continues. Medium-Sized Shops Are Targets
