Fannie Mae has added three new attributes to its daily prepayment report for mortgage-backed securities. The enhancements will provide timely data on principal reductions.
MBS account for a small portion of the GSEs’ mortgage portfolios. However, the portfolios increased in the fourth quarter thanks to Fannie adding to its MBS holdings. (Includes data table.)
Investors greeted “at-the-market” equity offerings by REITs fairly well last year. One analyst described the activity as “defensive” capital raises that strengthen the balance sheet.
Although almost all of the cost of funding a loan through MBS is passed through to consumers, borrowers only see about 40% of the “cost” of a specified pool pay-up.
Annaly Capital Management is preparing to issue a rare non-agency MBS stocked solely with bank-originated adjustable-rate mortgages. Loans in the MBS were originated by Associated Bank.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is working to establish a process that would allow the regulator to alter the ratings assigned to certain MBS and ABS held by insurance companies.
Fitch Ratings warned that MBS and ABS could face credit implications following cyberattacks involving the parties in structured finance transactions even when the events don’t directly lead to payment defaults.